That "4-page list"! (Part 1)

                I am turning 30 this September. How time flies! Here is my big news -- I am getting married on the 30th of December to a man that has completely shown me that trusting God is the best decision ever. That last statement is a fully loaded statement. You will have to read my story. 

               It was when I was 15, that my aunt told me about how God met her prayer request for a husband. She wrote her prayer request of the man she wanted -- her needs and desires. She then prayed about it. From his name, his personality, how the courtship would happen to his heart for God, etc. That conversation blew me away. Every request she made, God answered. It was then that I wrote my own prayer request. That prayer request changed over the years as I matured. By 20 I knew what I wanted in a man. However, when others heard about my requests, many said "YOU HAVE A 4-PAGE LIST!" I never quite liked the word list. Made me come off as demanding **yikes**. 

               I wrote my requests in detail -- I was told to be specific. I prayed about my future husband everyday. Even now I look back and remember how there were points where I would feel a great compulsion to pray for him. I knew wherever my man was -- he was going through either a hard time or just needed my prayer. I knew God is faithful. At points I was not so disciplined at praying for him. Honestly, I struggled holding on to my requests during periods in my life as people kept saying that I needed to be realistic or I just lacked the faith of meeting this man I wrote about. But there was always a still-small voice saying "Hold on. Trust me". The fighter inside me said, "I will! God will provide. I just need to walk in His will". Stories of Abraham and Sarah, Job, Isaac and Rachel were a few that kept my focus on God and built my faith.

               Over time, my mind subconsciously began to focus more on meeting my man and I began focusing less on God. I subconsciously thought that a man would fulfill my desires, I would be my happiest once I found this man. That notion that a man would save me was there even if I told myself I did not believe it. I blame Disney! Just kidding. Here is the thing....God wanted my whole heart.

               In 2012, which I dub 'the hardest year of my life' due to various reasons -- was also when I received my biggest breakthrough! I cannot explain the freedom I received when I began enjoying my singlehood (read my previous blog on singlehood to know more).

14 

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

Will bring her into the wilderness,

And speak comfort to her.

15 

I will give her her vineyards from there,

And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;

She shall sing there,

As in the days of her youth,

As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16 

“And it shall be, in that day,”

Says the Lord,

“That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’

And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’"         

(Hosea 2:14-16)

I learnt to be content in whatever circumstance. The question "what if you never got married?" was asked. My breakthrough came when I was ready to let go of my dreams and trust God. Completely happy that it is just Jesus and me -- my life was altered. The verse "He is the Way, the Truth and the Life" was so real. My goal in life was to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I began to enjoy my time with God in a whole new way. The overwhelming presence of God would take over and I could sit for hours in my room talking to God. That was when I discovered --- "Christ is enough for me". 

              Mind you, at this point I had already known my fiance but never met him in person. A true skeptic about meeting someone online, I met Stan online in 2010 and he remained my friend for years. Both of us oblivious to what God had in mind.....we were both in two ends of the world.....(to be continued).....

Love, Grace and Mercy : Don't judge!

“This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: 
She and her daughter had pride,

fullness of food, and abundance of idleness;

neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy”

Ezekiel 16:49

Lisa Bevere asked this question in her recent teaching ‘See it’ - ‘What was the sin of Sodom?’. My answer had nothing to do with the verse above. Carnality and perversion came to mind. I remember reading about Sodom and Gomorrah and thinking what a bunch of sadistic, crazy, immoral people. When Lisa brought this verse to focus, it was as though something hit me so hard. All those sins stemmed from pride, the abundance of wealth, selfishness, laziness, etc. All those sound so familiar. These sins are not foreign to any of us. We struggle with them. The more I look at it – the more I realise how we judge many things without looking at the root of the problem. Sodom allowed such sin to continue to manifest and escalate, until there were not even ten righteous men left to save the nation.

To live by grace has changed the way I think tremendously. Its so easy to judge and push our beliefs onto others. There is a difference between standing for God and judging for God. We Christians were never called to judge others. That is God's area of expertise....He does not need our limited knowledge to help Him out. But to show love, grace and mercy to others just like Jesus did - that is a supernatural gift. We need to understand that doing things in our own strength only takes us to a certain point with limited resources. Oh yes, humans can do a lot on their own but we are still limited. The gift that comes from God transcends what we can do and is not about our strength. We have access to heavenly resources (Ephesians 1:4 – ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ’). THAT’S JUST TOO AMAZING!!! At the speed of thought, I can have access to God’s divine privileges and resources because of my relationship with Jesus Christ and is activated through the the Holy Spirit. 

I am so blessed to have a God that forgives my sins every time I mess up. There are moments where He gives me glimpses of how He views things and my whole being becomes calm cause I know God has everything under control. If we all asked the question – ‘what is the root of my problem?’ every time we slip up, we find answers. We know we cannot solve it but we are able to give the root cause to God for His supernatural power to work in us and through us. How can we receive something we have not asked for? We are always reminded to ask and we will receive, seek and we will find, knock and the door will be opened. Most times we don’t just ask, seek and knock once – but keep doing it. It is true that God knows all things, but we still need to ask, seek and knock. If not He will have a church full of spoilt brats that have no appreciation for the things He does for us.

‘Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me’ – those words always have new meaning every time I sing it. To take the dust of the ground and give it purpose – that’s how amazing my God is. Be blessed awesome people.

Shalini xx

P.S I have so much to share about the amazing things God has been doing in my personal walk. Coming soon!

Featured Article: Monogamy is unnatural

I am a fan of Matt Walsh's blog. I appreciate people who are unafraid to stand for The Truth and morals. I believe in purity and I also believe that God redeems all who have fallen short. It is terrifying how people are able to take sin and justify it with human reasoning. I hope this article opens your eyes to the truth.

http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/01/07/monogamy-is-unnatural/

Be blessed.

Shalini

To be Holy is to be Wholly His

“Jesus lived a life of truth with a holy, single-minded devotion to doing His Father’s will. We might translate ‘holy’ as being ‘wholly’ His. His Spirit will lead us to Him and convicts us when we depart from Him. His Spirit will grow His character in our lives and gives us the power to do the same works that He did” 
– Rick Joyner, ‘When God walked the earth’

  

I am in awe of how the Lord answers prayers. Prayers from long ago. Forgotten prayers. Repeated prayers. Prayers I said in my heart. Desires that I have had. I realize in all – it is all His grace and favour over my life. All He wants is my willing heart. To take captive of my thoughts and bring everything I am into submission and obedience to His will over my life – I prosper. Not monetarily (even though I have seen that too) but with love, joy, peace, and many good things. I have been blessed to have the prayers of many over my life. While I thank God for His blessings, I must consistently remind myself that there is a world that needs to know Christ. Luke 12:48 says ‘For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required’.

I am called. To be consumed with self is how Satan has been attacking many Christians. We become too busy looking after ourselves, our families, our ministries, our jobs, our money, our pets, our entertainment or just enjoying life with that ‘prosperity living’, that we forget our call. We are called to be the hands and feet of God. We are the body of Christ. A body functions to its best when every part of the body is properly functioning. We are called to walk where no one wants or can go. God has given us a particular sphere of influence that only we can influence. We may think we are insignificant. YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT! You could be the cause of that significant change in your friends or family members life. We expect the world to change but change starts with us. I became a teacher to inspire change. His purpose over my life encourages me to live everyday giving of self even when I do not feel like it. I am definitely no saint – I am just so dependent on the Holy Spirit. While the Lord blesses me, I know I have so much to learn and do for Him. I must be able to take correction even when I am old and grey. Live a life with the single-minded devotion to glorify God and be wholly His.

So today – my request is that we get on our knees. Move the hands of God. Call on angels to work on our behalf. Be the hands and feet of God on the earth to make a change. Live beyond ourselves. Pray --- for the lives that are perishing every day, for Israel and that we do what God has called us to do. We must remember not to hide the light in a clay jar or put it under a bed. Instead, put it on a stand, so people can see the light (Luke 8:16). Be the light!

His Lavish Love

 “I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.”

Psalms 71:16-17

Love is the theme. Love is my story. So much I have learnt from a very young age. How I should always appreciate gifts cause I was a late bloomer, how to appreciate friends cause I lost a few due to my insecurities, how to trust God even when doing well felt impossible. Oh I could go on! But the issues are not what I want to talk about – it is how my God redeemed me that my heart rejoices. He loves me with my flaws and promised to do a great work. He keeps to His Word. He always does. He turned some of my weaknesses to my strengths. It was through my weaknesses that I found God. He met me when I was in my most vulnerable state. Like a child, I gave my all. In sheer hopelessness, I found Him. For that I boast of His works and I will do this all the days of my life.

My story is of how He loved me first and predestined a life full of promises. He keeps to His Word and always encourages. When I am distracted or do my own thing, He waits and reminds me of who He is and His plans. Like the prodigal son, I return. When I go through the wilderness, He teaches faith to trust Him even though things are dry and weary. Rick Joyner says that one of the primary purposes of the wilderness is for the separation of pretentious faith from true faith. After separation comes purification. The pain and suffering of the wilderness does not cleanse, but the faith required to endure and persevere does. In my wilderness, I see His love and power and I fall deeper in love with Him.

He began this love by giving me everything - I received. Then I learn from His love and I just want to express mine so I worship, I minister, I just want to do more…..He says I just want you. Rest. He overwhelms me with His ways. Joy overflows and my insides cannot contain it. But I also learn that love is not a feeling, it is a decision. Honouring Him even when I am wronged by doing what pleases Him. Worshipping Him with my life by giving Him my issues even when everything inside me wants to hurt someone who has hurt me. He pulls me close and whispers – ‘remember My love’. I have learnt that my aim is to live a life of love by giving cause My God is love and He loves me – flaws and all!

The Promise to Restore

We are part of God’s business of restoration (‘bringing back to a former or original condition’). He restores us and we are also used in His plan to restore. In the Bible when something is restored, it 'is always significantly better than its original condition'. From the beginning to the end of the Bible, we see restoration as a major theme. ‘Refresh, mend, regenerate, return, reinstate, reestablish, fix, give back, reconstruct, revive, rehabilitate, energize’ are amongst the words given in the Thesaurus for restore or restoration. These are a few Scriptures on restoration:

‘So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.’

Joel 2: 25-26.

‘….His mercy He saved us, through washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit..’

Titus 3:5

‘…be renewed in the spirit of your mind…put on a new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness’.

Eph 4:23-24.

‘For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem’

Ezra 9:9.

The pivotal personal restoration is the cleansing of sin and restoration of man back to God by the significant act of Jesus dying on the cross and His resurrection. Our salvation is the best thing in our personal walk. The ultimate restoration is the return of the church, the bride of Christ. It will be the time that makes the restoration complete.

Sometimes we feel that God is hiding Himself from us. That the world is just too messed up for it to be saved. Thats why faith is so important. Trusting the God we know in things unseen. In our lives, we are being restored to the image of God everyday. We are not perfect but we are complete in Christ. It was just today that I was down and out. God used His Word to restore me. It was His Word that spoke life into the dust of the ground and created man. With His Word He spoke and there was light, water, birds of the air, fish of the sea, plants and every other living thing. Restoration needs His Word and Him in the center of it. Perfect.

‘Let the ruins come to life
In the beauty of Your Name
Rising up from the ashes
God forever You reign

And my soul will find refuge
In the shadow of Your wings
I will love You forever
And forever I'll sing’

- lyrics of chorus from Glorious Ruins, Hillsongs

Kindness - A dying gesture?

“Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. 

Know how to give without hesitation, 

how to lose without regret, 

how to acquire without meanness.” 

― George Sand

"State ways that you can show kindness to someone in school". This was a question I asked my class of about 44 students. Other than 'helping teachers carry her/his books' and 'helping a friend with their homework', my students found it very difficult to think of something kind to do for someone else. I was shocked when a student said, 'saying hi to the aunties that clean the school'. My initial thought was 'hmmm...and who are you that they must feel privileged that you 'bestowed' them with your time and word'. Being kind is not lost but it doesn't come easy to many of us. Many children are not being taught or shown from example to think of others needs. It is very sad. Doing something kind without expecting something in return is a dying gesture. In a blink of an eye, we have become tremendously self absorbed. I am all for self-improvement. Wanting to look good and develop yourself, is not a bad thing. But when it becomes all you think about, we have a serious problem. As the 'selfie, Facebook, tweeter, blogging' generation, we care too much about our image and what we want the world to see. We are too busy focusing on our latest selfie and post on tweeter or Facebook that we miss opportunities to be a blessing. 

Here are the facts, we make more of a difference when human contact is involved. Having amazing Facebook statuses does not change lives like human contact. Making the time to be with people, talking to them, investing in the lives of people, living life with a positive attitude, etc. changes lives. Technology is an amazing tool to reach out to the world. I am a big fan but we should not let our phones, Ipads, laptops, etc. run our lives. Getting out there and doing 'random acts of kindness', taking the time to spend with friends and family, leading lives that loves others, speaks life into lives, and walks the talk, are a few things that we should be doing. These are things that take the focus off us and causes us to look at others. We become aware of needs. From this, we have opportunities to be kind to others. We are living epistles. I am an epistle of Christ. Our stories are being written and we definitely want to have a story that makes a positive difference. 

Things you can do to show kindness - just think of another persons need and do something nice for them. Even for a day. Babysit for a friend or family member so that they can have a break, write a note to cheer someone up or to tell them how awesome they are, cook a delicious home cooked meal for a friend, buy a drink for the guy who is working hard under the sun, etc. There are many ways to be kind. Just think about their needs and do a simple gesture without expecting anything in return. 

Being kind does not come easy. But if we make it a change in lifestyle from what the world advocates ('Me, myself and I'), kindness will be easy. Actions speak louder than words. Let your actions do the talking. Take a stand to have an attitude of kindness. 

“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” 

― Steve Maraboli