Serving God's Purposes in Our Generation (Acts 13:36b)

Summer Meditations

When I take an up close, personal look at my faith, I am most amazed not during times of relative peace and security. Rather I am most amazed at what this relationship I have with Jesus does for me when I walk through tough times, when I’ve made mistakes, when the road ahead is marked with uncertainty, or when I feel the weight of some heavy burden on my shoulders. There is this overwhelming sense of God and the reality that my life is firmly in his grasp.More than ever I look at the brokenness of the world around me,…

You Are The God Who Performs Miracles – Psalm 77:14

Psalm 77 1 I cried out to God for help;        I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;        at night I stretched out untiring hands        and my soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;        I mused, and my spirit grew faint.        Selah 4 You kept my eyes from closing;        I was too troubled to speak. 5 I thought about the former days,        the years of long ago; 6 I remembered my songs in the night.        My heart mused and my spirit…

Prayer Points for SAGC 2009

Prayer Points for SAGC 2009  - 28 days to 22nd July 2009Week 4 – June 24th June 2009 Pray for 1. Faith to believe God to do the impossible. Pray Luke 1:37 "For Nothing Is Impossible With God." 2. Trust in God to make a way for all delegates to attend the SAGC 2009 Convention.3. Obstacles and hindrances to be removed. Declare that all paths will be made straight. 4. Faith to arise in every heart. May the International Coordinator, Advisor, Administrative Secretary, the SAGC Team, Worship, Dance & Drama Team, Plenary &  Seminar Speaker and Delegate alike be strengthened in faith. Declare…

Without Words

I have realized that so much of our evangelism needs to be ‘without words’. In a world driven by images ‘visuals’ attract our attention. And so, we need to be seen and not heard (to borrow words from a popular petra song). We need to be brand ambassadors for Jesus. We are used to talking. Not just talking but talking aloud. We say things that we don’t believe, things that we don’t practice and even things we don’t intend to. It is easy to preach a sermon. You can google-search and pull it off the net. There are books that…

Happy

It's officially the second day of summer and I'm lounging around at Walter's house eating frozen yogurt and reflecting on life. It's been close to two months since I arrived in Toronto and I think it's a good time to write, something I haven't had the chance to do quite as often as I used to. The transition to Toronto was amazingly smooth. Everything fell into place so perfectly and God's favor has been thoroughly evident throughout this whole process.The course I'm doing is great. I'm really liking my classes and the sense that I'm doing what I want to…

Suicide in India

Suicide is said to be the third-leading cause of death in India.Isn’t it astonishing to know that a mortality rate of 120 000 people committing suicide in India would mean more than 300 suicides per day, not less than 14 suicides per hour and one suicide in every five minutes? Moreover, isn’t it heartbreaking to come to know more than 400 000 people attempting to commit suicide in India would disclose about 1100 attempted suicides per day, about 46 attempted suicides per hour and one suicide attempt in every one minute and thirty seconds?

Desi Sexual Practices

Here is report on Indian American sexual practices. It appeared in Columbia Science Journal. Once a topic that is never talked about in public, now being researched by professionals and published for all to see. May be that is why it is of lots of interest to find out what goes on in the private lives of people. Read reports in Indolink and Economic Times.The study explores the decision-making processes, attitudes, and belief systems of young Desis with respect to their sexual behavior among 18-24 year old young adults in New York.Findings: a) 77.8% of first-generation South Asians reporting never…

God Is A God Of Second Chances

I just came back from the first night of The Filling Station conference for this year. The theme is Grace. I know....what an amazing thing that is. The speakers this year are amazing. Tonight's message was from Simon Gau, a youth pastor right here from Whalley!I've heard so many messages on grace but it never fails to humble me every single time I hear it. A verse from tonight's message struck me so much that I felt I had to write this out.Micah 7 : 8, 9"Do not gloat over me, my enemy!Though I have fallen, I will rise.Though I…

Joyous Moments with JOY

There are many unforgettable events in our life and June 10, 2004, is one such of my life. I was in my friend’s house then. I got a call at midnight which left me tensed. I immediately got ready and rushed to hospital, driving for about one hour. By the time I reached, my wife had already left for surgery. I didn’t know what to do. I was silent and felt apprehensive about what was going to happen. Praying to God I was eagerly waiting outside the operation room. Then I heard a thin and raspy noise from the operation…

Farewell To Some Dear Friends

Church planting means that you’re constantly meeting, befriending, welcoming new people. But those on the front lines will tell you that you’re also saying goodbye a ton. The statistic is crazy – something like that 80% of who you begin with won’t be there soon after you launch. That sounds terribly high and I hope I’m wrong. But it does mean that you’re probably going to have to learn to say goodbye almost as much as you learn to say hello.We had to do that this Sunday. We had to say goodbye to some dear friends. Fortunately, it was the…

Are There Rules To Live By?

We can do almost anything we want to do. We can transplant heart and other parts just like how we change spares for our motorbikes. We are exploring cutting edge technology in cloning. We can do almost anything we want to do except tell the difference between right and wrong. We do not know what is right?, What is wrong? and worse the difference between the two. Now, how do we then live? For some, what is morally right is determined by the culture (the cultural argument). For others, What is morally right and wrong depends on the situation (situational…

The 12 Discarded Myths Of Our Times

1. Systemic risk disappears if capital markets are sufficiently large and efficient2. Leveraged betting and other financial innovations are uniformly good and create no systemic disadvantages or vulnerabilities3. Most countries can continue to manipulate their currencies; the consequence may be minor advantages/ disadvantages relative to other countries, but there are no systemic consequences4. Sub-prime housing is a marginal issue and, in any case, losses will be limited5. In any case, interest rate cuts will certainly deal with any possible resulting system-wide issues6. Central banks are on top of inflation and there is no foreseeable reason to imagine that they will…

Bible's Most Inspiring Verses Revealed

iPhone users have helped identify the most inspiring Bible verses.ReignDesign, developers of the popular 'Bible Promises' application for iPhone, recently released a new version which allows people to 'favorite' their most inspiring Bible verses. By analyzing information from thousands of church-goers across the world, they were able to compile a list of the most popular verses.1. Isaiah 40:31: But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.2. Deuteronomy 31:6: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid…

Happy

It's officially the second day of summer and I'm lounging around at Walter's house eating frozen yogurt and reflecting on life. It's been close to two months since I arrived in Toronto and I think it's a good time to write, something I haven't had the chance to do quite as often as I used to. The transition to Toronto was amazingly smooth. Everything fell into place so perfectly and God's favor has been thoroughly evident throughout this whole process.The course I'm doing is great. I'm really liking my classes and the sense that I'm doing what I want to…

Fatherhood: God’s and Our!

Three events this past week inspired me to study the topic ‘Fatherhood’. Most churches last Sunday commemorated ‘Father’s Day’.  It was also my dad’s 83rd Birthday and I thought of the kind things he did for me growing up. Moreover, Dorothy after 2 weeks returns home and in her absence I’ve been re-examine my role as a responsible ‘father’ to Alethea and CharisIf one’s name or title is meant to reveal one’s nature, the Bible in referring to God as ‘Father’ teaches much about his character and ways. The OT contains about 7 references to God as father, the NT…

Prayer Points for SAGC 2009

Prayer Points for SAGC 2009 – 35 Days to 22th July 2009Week 3 – June 17th 20091.Pray for delegates to register as soon as possible2. Pray for clear communication between registrar and delegates3. Pray for everyone involved in the Convention that their lives will be protected, preserved and empowered to flow smoothly for His glory. 4. Pray Ephesians 3:20: that God will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can think or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.Ranee QuireySAGC 2009 Prayer CoordinatorSouth Asian Global Convention SAGC 2009 Location: Singapore Dates: 22-26 July 2009 Website: http://www.SAGC2009.com “Now…

Teen Stress – Indian Americans

In a recent report, I came across rising stress levels among teens. Parental and societal expectations, peer acceptance, fear of failure, confusion over who they are and what they want to do in life, changing body, media/culture influences, relationships etc make life hard for teens like never before.A 2005 survey of teens nationwide by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found 94 percent reported feeling stressed at some point in their daily lives. Forty-eight percent said they felt stress sometimes, while 27 percent said it was frequent.Adolescence has never been easy, but it has never been as hard as it…

Nowhere to RUN

LyricsI’ll sing it / One last time for you / Then we really have to go/ You’ve been the only thing/ That’s right/ In all I’ve done / And I can barely look at you/ But every single time I do/ I know we’ll make it anywhere /Away from here/ Light up, light up /As if you have a choice/ Even if you cannot hear my voice / I’ll be right beside you dear/ Louder louder/ And we’ll run for our lives/ I can hardly speak I understand /Why you Can’t raise your voice to say/ To think I might…

Positive Thinking Running Amok?

Why can't we be real before God? Tell Him what we feel, confess to Him if we are perplexed or confused, share with Him our fears and dreams, and ask Him to show us which way we should proceed, all the while expressing our confidence in His love, wisdom and power. What is going to succeed, an honest and sincere cry for help, or a pronunciation of the right words without any conviction behind them? The Bible is so very true when it says that we do not receive because we do not ask (Jas.4:2). Is it not silly of us not to receive the things God wants to give us just because we would not ask? How 'poor' we can be because of a silly understanding of being positive!


Extreme Spirituality

Solomon gave a piece of advice to people that they should not be excessively righteous (Eccl.7:16). What does this mean except that we should not take righteousness to extremes? Isn’t it true that some well meaning people foolishly extend themselves beyond what God requires and, as a result, end up in an unnatural, unrealistic and impractical approach to righteousness or spirituality?  . . . . But in seeking to be really godly, they went beyond what God wanted, and they got sidetracked with silly little issues (e.g., “not touching”), missing the main point (Matt.23:23-25).Like Paul said, all these types of foolish ways look as though they will make us godly (Col.2:23). But they are deceptive. Generally speaking they make us feel superior to others around us. When we begin to go in these directions it does not look as though we are making a mistake. We think we have found a secret of godliness. But even though the deviation may be small in the beginning, ultimately it leads us far away from the goal.