The other Joseph

When it was announced last week in the church to fast and pray, I responded with a mixed reaction. I was excited that there is something that could finally compel me to do what I have been wanting to do for awhile but was a bit anxious because of the same reason. I thought to myself, 'How long could I fast?' I tried to be good to myself by not being legalistic (which I am prone to!). Day 1 came and I skipped a meal. Nothing really thunderous was revealed but I was glad I managed to discipline myself for that. The second day was haphazard - I ate a bit here and there. Had we not been stuck in the heavy traffic jam, we could have made it early for evening prayer but we came in a few minutes before end. Still, a note struck a chord as a short message was shared. Half an hour or so after that, we had our Inter Mission. What spoke to me among many was 'birth-right' and '...Esau I hated.' We looked into Esau selling his birth-right for a bowl of soup. Esau had eve...

The other morning, during my moment with God, I thought about being conformed into the image of Christ. I was content and at peace to know I don't need to look like someone else or try hard for it. Iam encouraged knowing that moulding us into His image is the work of God. This is not to undermine my responsibility to co-operate with the Spirit but the fact that there is someone designing and tailoring my live uniquely just the way I am created to be is so comforting. The fact that I am not incharge of my life consoles me deeply in my circumstance and the truth that I am His responsibility makes me rest even more secure! Then I asked the Holy Spirit what happens when a believer does not work with Him. He brought to my attention that He intercedes for us with groans that cannot be expressed. Oh the love of God! You can't really go wrong y'know. His love is all around us. I often struggle to find peace and comfort. As an alien in a foreign land, culture shock was not som...

Ever since I landed in the UK, never ever have I been so culture conscious in my life! Before my first week ended, I must confess, I had already made up my mind to marry only a person from my own culture. I suspect the culture shock had me real good. And the quiteness of Britain, unlike the hustle bustle of India had me almost crazy. I wondered if people ever ventured out on the streets.I began to miss even those chaotic traffic and noise pollution in Delhi, much to my surprise. Every morning I would wake up in the comfort of Zeli's bed, eagerly peering through the window expecting to be greeted by a streak of light against a blue sky but only to find a gloomy welcome. Fortunately, this does not deter me to look out morning by morning and finally, after four days of my arrival, I saw a glorious sunshine! O the pleasure of meeting the morning sun! I took several pictures and posted one on Facebook. I had to. I am a morning person used to watching the crack of dawn. Gloomy days do m...

For the past few months, I had been struggling to remove cob-webs in my mind. My mind did the weaving actually, day after day, night after night. Part of me wanted to clear these messy webs and get over it once and for all but, another part of me was clearly reluctant, enjoying the delicate thrill of balancing on the web. Overall, I recognised that it did me no good and condemned myself. I hated battlefield of the mind and I was losing it. I had tried several times to clear the web but the backlash grasped me a lot stronger than before and I just did not know how to win. The only hope I had was to pray. So I knelt down and prayed in earnest. I had decided to fight against the thoughts again because I felt convicted by the spoken and written Word of God. You see, people may say it's okay to think about certain things as long as you don't act on it. But we are most likely to act out of our thought reserve. Sin is acting on the thought that goes against the will of God. So we nee...