ALL GENERATIONS CALL HER BLESSED

• Who is she, called blessed? 
• Why is she blessed? 
• Where in the Bible do we come across this? 

Most of us know that the woman referred to here is Mary, mother of Jesus. She is the first woman of the New Testament who prophesied and proclaimed in faith that, “From now on all generations shall call me blessed.” Why was she so confident? She ‘personalised’ the Word of God which came to her when she was still a virgin. The narrative is recorded in the gospel of St. Luke only. 

At the outset we need to understand that Luke’s records found in chapters 1 and 2 are unique to his gospel. He was a devout convert of the first century and a close associate of St. Paul. In three of his epistles Paul is making a mention of Luke. He was a medical doctor by profession and Greek by nationality. Luke’s accounts are historical and very orderly. As he himself points out he has ‘carefully investigated everything from the beginning’. The preamble he gives in the book of Acts, indicates that Luke must be well known to the governor Theophilus. Scholars believe that he would not have known Jesus personally and the account of the angelic visitation of Mary in Nazareth of Galilee would have been arrived at, by Luke’s personal interview with Mary the mother of Jesus of Nazareth and other eye witnesses.

As I was studying the narrative of the angelic visitation of Virgin Mary, I could find a good comparison and contrast between this and the satanic visitation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. The first one reported in the Old Testament is the satanic visit of Eve and the first one reported in the New Testament is the angelic visit of Mary. Both women had been all by themselves at the time of visitation. One resulted in a ‘fall’ and the other in ‘redemption from the fall’. How? Eve never ‘personalised’ the word of God while Virgin Mary though single, ‘personalised’ the Word when it came to her. This act of submission to God’s Word made her a channel of blessing to the whole world. Yes, from then on ‘all generations all over the world have called her blessed Mary’. There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from Virgin Mary . 

Personalizing the Word of God

For believers in Christ, leading a witnessing and fruitful life, springing from personalizing the Word of God as found in the Holy Bible, is a very important daily spiritual exercise. Few days ago, I happened to read a devotional written by a well known Bible teacher, Andrew Wommack, USA,  that was used by  the Holy Spirit of God to drive home this 'life point' to me. The inspiration to write this blog post  initiated there and my personal devotion times led me to newer lessons which I am sharing here.

Whenever we read the Bible, or listen to a message preached or a Bible lesson taught, many a times there are verses that make a deep impression on us at that particular moment. The light to guide us comes from there, for specific tasks to be dealt with that day or later. It may be a routine task or a peculiar one. It may be trivial or of utmost importance to us. It differs day to day and from person to person.  The Bible breathed by the Spirit of God is 'living and active' even to this day and will remain like that forever.  Hence it will be good for every one of us to personalize the WORD every time it comes to us.

REPENTANCE is much more than mere REGRET

Christians are very familiar with the term ‘repent’ and more often than not we tend to treat it lightly not realising the meaning in its wholeness. Time and time again we hear sermons and revival messages mentioning and emphasising the word ‘REPENT’. It is even mistakenly understood to be simply ‘regret’ for the wrong doings and sins of commission and omission. There is a lot more to it. It is like the tip of an iceberg. The hidden part is not easily recognisable unless some effort is put in to take a closer look. In this blog I am attempting to explain it with references from the Holy Bible and some illustrations.

THE LORD RESTORES WHAT HIS PEOPLE HAVE LOST

Time and time again the Bible presents the people mentioned in it having lost all that they have or a considerable portion of their possessions which they have lost. It never stops there. At some point later, there is recorded the manifold recovery of what is lost earlier and the losers rejoicing in the recovery. In scriptural terms, we even call these ‘total recovery’. Does it apply to our times also? The answer is an emphatic ’yes’.

The Holy Bible is a book for all people and all times. There are eternal truths which can never be altered. One such truth is the ‘recovery of the lost’. Jesus is telling parables concerning ‘the lost sheep /coin/son’. Everywhere the ‘loser’ persists till the ‘lost’ is found and more than restored. The redemption plan of the Bible is also that God came in search of the fallen humans and took upon Himself the whole process of recovering the ‘lost’. God is always the victor, though we stumble on the way, trip and fall. His love searches for us and He redeems and restores us back to Himself. The Eternal God does the same thing in spirit, soul and body. For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour there is always the hope of recovering all that we lost or lose now and then in the earthly journey. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. (Rom 8: 37). Loss is not at all the final word for God’s people.

Let me illustrate the point I am making with what the Lord has been teaching me. Hope that the readers will be encouraged and edified with the biblical illustrations I am presenting in this blog. Hallelujah!! The Old Testament is full of historical characters who ‘lost’ people and materials due to some reason or the other and have ‘recovered’ what was lost. I was intrigued by David, Job, Daniel and Isaac, men of strong faith who drew their spiritual strength from relying on God and His Word. Prophet Joel declares that what the people of Judah lost due to falling away from the LORD will be restored by the LORD Himself. He goes on to say that God’s people will never be put to shame in front of the others.(Joel 2:25,26). It holds good for any Bible believing person too.

THE EYES OF THE LORD….. They are magnificent!!

The Bible teaches that we need to guard our eyes with all diligence. Why? It is because, the eyes of the Lord whom we serve as Christians, are supremely magnificent. The Master’s eyes require us to keep our eyes fitting to behold His glory. As I was meditating on this fact, the Lord taught me certain things which I have put down in this blog. The readers will find it engaging themselves in spiritual edification, I am confident. Here we go!

Thus Far ….. And No Farther…        Job 38:11

Kalaneethy Christopher

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

 ‘FREEDOM WITHIN LIMITS’

‘I

   Placed the sand as the boundary for the sea’, says the Lord. (Jer 5:22). The book of Job talks about the magnificence of God and the whole of creation that is sustained by the Lord God. He gave the sea its limit (Pro 8:29). The LORD has set a boundary for water that it will not pass over. (Psa 104: 9). All of God’s creation is perfectly controlled and managed by the God Almighty. The mighty, fiery orb, even the Sun is set by Him to ‘run its course’ only. (Psa 19:5). This order in the universe is applicable to us humans also. The Lord has bestowed us with freedom which has limits or a boundary. It is not unrestricted. ‘God limits our freedom for our own good.’(Joyce Meyer)

                                                                   A Sea Shore

IN THE GARDEN

How Deep Is Our Relationship With Jesus Christ Our Lord?

How Deep Is Our Relationship With Jesus Christ Our Lord?

Kalaneethy Christopher

T

he Lord God created and placed man and woman in the garden of Eden. He came in search of their fellowship each afternoon. One fine day He entered and not finding Adam and Eve waiting for Him, called out to Adam saying “Adam, where are you?” This is in fact the first question of God to humanity as recorded in the first book, the Book of Genesis in the Bible. [Gen.3:9] Hence it is important to every Christian, to ask ourselves the question, ‘Where am I, in my fellowship with Christ the Son of God, who came to the world, in search of me?’

Prophet Ezekiel had a vision wherein he was taken to a river flowing from the temple of God, where the waters were first ankle deep, then knee deep, then loin deep and finally rose to a swimming level. [Ezek 47:3-5].  The waters are referred to as the Holy Spirit flowing from the throne of God who fills the lives of God’s people on earth.  Christians need to go deeper in fellowship with Christ, so that we reach a stage where we flow along with the Spirit of Christ in the Christian walk to be fruitful in the world.

When our Lord Jesus was on the earth walking about in Galilee and Judea, many people followed Him, for many reasons. Some with good but others with wicked intentions. Wherever He entered we find people going after Him for earthly blessings alone or for the blessing of eternal life. He always had a group of Jews following to corner Him and to accuse Him.

As we read John 6: 60-71 there appear many types of disciples who followed Jesus, and left Him for some reasons. John dissects this crowd neatly and we can trace the various groups of followers. It makes an interesting study to help us decipher, our motives for being followers of Christ in this generation.

After we locate ourselves, let us progress to a closer walk with Christ on earth. This is my wish for all of the readers who read this blog! May the Lord help us in this introspection?