Short Messages

From the Pastor’s Desk

By Rev. JohnShatananda

Greetings in thename of Jesus Christ.

Elijah was agreat man of God. He had slain the wicked prophets of Baal. There was 3½ yearsdrought in the land and he prayed earnestly for rain and God sent it. But whathappened to the prophet, the great man of God?

In 1st King 19:4,we read, Elijah saying, “Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than myfather!”

Lord, why this ishappening to me, don’t you see, care, understand? Help me! I am weak - is okay.But saying, “take my life” and lifting up the hands, is not okay. What do wecall it? being pushed in to depression.

A fable - Oncethe devil organized an exhibition cum sale of well-worn tools. There were sometreacherous instruments including hatred, jealousy, lying, pride, ego, spiritof accusation, apart from this there was a harmless looking device with a veryhigh price tag. “What’s this?”, someone asked. “That’s discouragement.” Thedevil replied, “It’s one of my most effective tools. With it, I can pry openthe heart’s of God’s greatest servants and bring them in depression.”

Elijah wasdepressed because a lady called Jezebel threatened his life - “I will take yourlife, like the way you took the life of my prophets.” Elijah quickly slippedinto a state of fear and depression. The great victories left Elijah,physically and emotionally drained. He became vulnerable to discouragement.Elijah, rather than looking at the Lord for strength, was looking at ascapegoat for his discouragement and depression, and lifts his hands up andtells the Lord, “Take my life”.

Are youdiscouraged? Are you under depression? Are you trying your best to figure ourwho pushed you into it? If you are doing this, be sure it’s the devil’s work.

Our God is a Godwho watches and understands. He took steps to restore Elijah’s strength. Heallowed him to sleep, “God let Elijah catch up his sleep -Rest”. He providednourishment to give him energy. Finally God gave him a new vision of His power- so that Elijah could continue in his mission with a new vision. Don’t liftyour hands up and put your head down.

Put your handsdown and lift your head up.

Member’s Column

by Mrs. Alice Abraham

I used to pray that God would give me thestrength to tell others what He has done in my life, which would help others tohave strong belief in God. Gladly, I’d like to share what God has done duringthe last one year.

In the month of April 2017, I noticed that Ihad a lump in my right breast. But I did not inform anybody. In the month ofMay, I informed my husband about it and the next day itself we went together toour regular govt. doctor. When I informed the doctor about the lump sinceApril, he was furious that I had kept it to myself and not consulted a doctor.

I was directed to get a mammogram immediatelya Cancer speciality Hospital. The mammogram tests revealed two lumps and hadall the symptoms of malignancy. The doctor who saw the report at the hospitalsaid that an operation has to be done immediately. Accordingly, in the 1st weekof June, the procedure was carried out and two lumps were removed, the doctorwas confident that one of the lumps would be malignant. However, the biopsyreport was in my favour and both the lumps were benign. I showed this report tomy govt. doctor, where she said that, it is because of your prayers that theyturned out to be benign as she was 100 % sure that at least one of the lumpswere malignant.

Yes, it was because of all our prayers, Godsaved me from this situation.

Another incident that happened was in themonth of Sept 2017, while I was travelling from Wales to Germany with myhusband. We had to board the flight at Stansted Airport, enroute to Colognewhere my sister in law was supposed to receive us.

The flight departure was at 5:30 am and wereached the airport by 12:30am. The departures were on the first floor and wehad to take an escalator to reach there. My husband was waiting on the groundfloor. while I proceeded to the escalator going upwards with a small bag.Suddenly, I lost my balance and fell down, I started rolling up and down thesteps of the escalator. My husband rushed up and lifted me and pushed meupwards. Having reached the first floor, an airport staff assisted me to anarea reserved for passengers who needed assistance. They called for a paramedicwho examined me thoroughly and dressed the bruises. After we were settled, myhusband noticed that the jacket he was wearing was missing. It contained ourpassports, tickets, cash, credit card, etc. He did not realise that his jacketcame off while he was lifting me up.

I thought to myself that that was the end ofour journey and that we would be stranded in a foreign country with no passportand no money .

After a while, totally confused, my husbandwent back to the ground floor. He found the jacket hung on a small hook next tothe escalator with all our belongings intact. Apparently, one of the passengerssaw the jacket lying next to the escalator and hung it in a visible location.Praise God!

When he returned, we knelt down and prayed,thanking God for his mercy and protection.

Before starting a journey we always pray forjourney mercies and protection. I believe it is because of this His Grace waswith us and we could overcome the situation and the rest of our journey wascomfortable.

Like these, so many incidences have happenedin my life and I always remember how my God protects us from all adversesituations.

Romans Ch 8 Verses 35-37 says “ who shall separateus from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famineor nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face deathall day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all thesethings we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

This passage re-affirms God''s love for hispeople. No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never belost, we are surrounded by His love.

Suffering should not drive us away from God,but help us to identify ourselves with Him further and allow His love to reachus and heal us. Nothing can stop Christ''s constant presence with us. If webelieve, these assurances, our faith in God increases day by day.

PRAISE GOD