Category / English Post

by Kannannadars

TRAITS OF A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN

“After we are regenerated, he continues to renew us; our thoughts, feelings, desires, and acts are constantly renewed. Regeneration as the commencement of the new creation can never come twice to any man, but renewal of the Holy Ghost is constantly and perpetually repeated.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

The first epistle of John has to say much about the evidences or the traits that can be found in a person who has been truly born again. As a tree is known by its fruit, a true believer is known by these traits. There are at least five of those which are mentioned below.

1. They believe that Jesus is the Christ. They heartily accept Jesus as God Incarnate and believe all the implied purposes in His incarnation.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…” – 1 John 5:1

2. They do not deliberately, knowingly, and habitually practice sin because the seed planted by God remains in them. They cannot keep on sinning. Jesus Christ keeps them safe.

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” – 1 John 3:9

“We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.” – 1 John 5:18

3. They practice righteousness i.e they do what is right. They do not continue in the evil deeds. If they do so, then their deeds will demonstrate that they are not born again.

“If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.” – 1 John 2:29

“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child…” – 1 John 3:10

4. They love one another i.e. they love their fellow born again believers.

“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: …, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” – 1 John 3:10

” Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” – 1 John 4:7

5. They overcome the world by faith i.e. they overcome the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes and pride in possessions. They overcome the pressures and temptations of the world. They overcome all that draws them away from God.

“for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” – 1 John 5:4

by Kannannadars

Why are our prayers ineffective? (Part-3)

Prayer is the privilege of every born again child of God and it must be a place of ever increasing intimacy with our Heavenly Father. But often we find ourselves devoid of such intimacy and that’s why in this series we are meditating on the things which hinder our fellowship with our Heavenly Father so that we may correct ourselves and again be restored to a place of unbroken communion with God. Let’s move on to the next part of this series with the expectation that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes and apply the truths of the Holy Scriptures to our hearts.

3. Lack of concern towards the poor renders our prayers ineffective.

It is an undeniable fact that believers and unbelievers all alike show partiality towards the poor. In churches also men are respected based on their high social standing. A believer who is having a well paying job, nice family, big house, nice car and good social backup is often respected more. A poor believer is often seen with contempt. Rich believers are given prominent seats while poor believers are made to stand or made to seat at the feet of leader. Sin of partiality has crept into the churches (James 2:1-4). Rich believers are often seen least concerned about the physical needs of the poor believers (James 2:15-16). God wants us to show mercy on the poor, for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy (James 2:13).

The poor will always be there in our midst. God expects that we neither harden our hearts nor shut our hands from our poor and needy brothers. God tells us to open our hands wide and give sufficiently for the need of our poor brother. If we do so God has promised to bless us but if we fail to do so then the cry of our poor brother will be considered as sin unto us (Deut 15:7-11). The Bible says that the one who ignores the poor will have many curses (Proverbs 28:27). Too much fasting and praying is going on nowadays but we are not getting the desired result. Because God’s way of chosen fasting and praying is to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts, share bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into our own house, cover the naked poor with clothes and don’t refuse help to our own relatives. These are the scriptural basis of true fasting and praying. And when we implement this in our life and do the praying God has promised to answer our prayers (Isaiah 58:6-9)!!

God is sick of our Sunday meetings, youth meetings, revival meetings, women’s conferences, youth conferences, bible quiz, children’s meetings, fasting and all the prayer performances. God doesn’t like our lengthy and loud prayers because he sees the heart not the outside performances. He is asking us to stop all the artful performance in prayer. He is not going to listen such prayers (Isaiah 1:15). He requires from us to remove all the evil doings from our life, to learn to do good, to seek justice, to help the oppressed, to defend the cause of orphans and to fight for the rights of widows (Isaiah 1:16-17). Effective Praying and Sinning both can’t go hand-in-hand. God is more interested in justice and mercy than our fasting and prayer (Zech 7:9-13). Even in the New Testament, during Jerusalem council Paul and Barnabas were asked to remember the poor (Gal 2:10). Also we can see that, Paul had been the means of bringing contributions from the wealthier churches of Antioch to Jerusalem (Acts 11:29-30).

Proverbs 21:13 says, “Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.”

We all are prone to make mistakes in our life. None is righteous. So, Let us examine our life in the light of the above message and allow God the Holy Spirit to correct us. Let us remove all the hindrances that are rendering our prayer life ineffective. Jesus Christ is always ready to forgive and embrace us back into his fold!! God bless you all!!

by Kannannadars

Why are our prayers ineffective? (Part-2)

We had started a series on why are our prayers ineffective and had completed the first part. Firstly, we meditated on the truth that the sin in the life of a believer causes barrier to prayer and renders it ineffective. Lets prayerfully move on to the next part of this series and may the Holy Spirit guide us in this endeavor.

2. Asking God with wrong motives renders our prayers ineffective.

When we ask something from God in prayer, first be sure of the motive behind it. Is there any unrighteous agenda or wrong intentions behind our prayers? Will it bring glory to God? Sometimes our prayers are in competition with other believers and we want our prayers to be answered by God to get into a stronger position than our fellow believers in Christ. Some believers pray in public just to show others but never have a personal prayer life and that’s just hypocrisy. Many church leaders expect answer from God just to compete with other church leaders. Many of them just need name and fame in this world. Knowingly or unknowingly selfishness has crept into our prayer life and all the objectives in our prayers have just become the matter of self glorification. These are all the examples of selfish praying. We pray, pray and pray but God doesn’t give because we want to spend it for our own selfish desires (James 4:3). Too much praying is going on nowadays but we are seeing more and more believers in backslidden state. Like Prodigal Son, to whom his father granted his selfish desires and he spent it all on his lustful desire but at the end he lost everything and he returned back empty handed in a backslidden state (Luke 15:14). God had given Israelite what they craved but while the food was still in their mouths God’s anger rose against them and many died (Psalms 78:29-31).

Lord Jesus Christ had taught the disciples on how to pray and that is an example on how to pray without any selfish interest. First and the foremost objective in our prayer must be the honor of our Heavenly Father, His kingdom expansion and His will to be done on earth (Matthew 6:9,10). He has promised to grant us whatever we ask not for our self glorification but in order that Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13-14). Let us leave our own selfish motives and ask according to His will and He will hear us (1 John 5:14).

Let us take some time to examine our intentions in prayer. Are we praying with selfish motives? Are our prayers for the glory of God? Do we desire in prayer His name to be honored? Are our prayers for His kingdom expansion? Are we praying for His will to be done or our own will?

Cry out to God and pray like David,

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalms 19:14)

May God the Holy Spirit help each every one of us to get rid of all selfish motives in prayers!! May He help us to pray in acceptable way!!

by Kannannadars

Why are our prayers ineffective? (Part-1)

We all pray and we also expect answers to our prayers from God. But many times our prayers go unanswered and we despair. And then many of us become dull in our prayer life. So, let us together examine the Holy Scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit and see the things that are making our prayers ineffective.

1. Sin is the barrier that is rendering our prayers ineffective.

David fell into adultery with Bathsheba and with treachery he made her husband Uriah to be killed in the battlefield (2 Samuel 11, 12). This incident broke his relationship with the God. When we sin, a gap is created between us & God. Our fellowship with God gets broken. When we read the account of David’s sin with Bathsheba, we know that almost for 1 year his relationship with God was broken. Our iniquities separate us from our God and because of our sins He hides his face from us and doesn’t hear us. Our sins then stand like a wall between us and our God (Isaiah 59:1, 2). And many of us now have stopped praying as God has hidden his face from us because of our sins (Isaiah 64:7). Psalmist says that if we entertain evil in our heart God will not listen to our prayers (Psalms 66:18). So what is the way out?

David confessed his sin to God and God forgives his sin (Psalms 32:5). Psalms 32 & Psalms 51 is the David’s psalms of repentance. This is the only way out. Don’t try to whitewash your sin but confess and forsake it. God will show mercy to you (Proverbs 28:13). When we admit our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done (1 John 1:9). Jesus Christ, our Advocate, will intercede for us with the Father (1 John 2:1).

Now is the time to examine ourselves in the light of above scriptures. Are you thinking about doing anything sinful inside your heart? Are there any known sins in your life? Is there anything which is not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action? Don’t delay. Come to Jesus and confess and forsake your sin. His blood will remove all your sin and guilt (1 John 1:7). He is waiting for you to embrace you like the prodigal son who returned to his Father.

Jesus Christ is ever ready to settle this matter. But are you ready? Do you have the desire to settle this at the earliest? Do you really long for unhindered fellowship with your Lord?

In Isaiah 1:18 the Lord says,

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

May God help each every one of us to confess and forsake our sins!! May God help each every one of us to have a unbroken fellowship with our heavenly father!! God bless you all!!

by Kannannadars

Don’t go back

The book of Hebrews was written to the Jewish believers who were on the verge of losing their faith due to consecutive persecution. Some of them were imprisoned also (Hebrews 13:3). But it seems that nobody was martyred still (Hebrews 12:3-4).

This was not new for them. Because of their faith in Jesus Christ, they have faced persecution earlier also. During their earlier days they themselves were publicly exposed to insult and afflictions, they helped them who were treated in this way and they joyfully endured the confiscation of their property. But now when they are again facing the persecution, they don’t want to endure it. They felt it better and safe to go back to their old religion. They were slipping away from the truth. Even some of them were staying away from the church meetings (Hebrew 10:25). That’s why in this letter the author is again and again stressing his audience to hold fast or to have a firm grip till the end.

Hebrew 2:1 – “…give the more earnest heed to the things…”

Hebrew 3:6 – “…hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”

Hebrew 3:14 – “…hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;”

Hebrew 4:14 – “…let us hold fast our profession.”

Hebrew 6:11 – “…every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:”

Hebrew 10:23 – “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;”

Hebrew 10:35 – “Cast not away therefore your confidence”

When life surprises you with problems one after the another, don’t despair. Don’t throw away your confidence. Instead, pay more attention to the word of God and hold fast to your Redeemer unto the end. Patiently endure the troubles because it carries rich reward in the age to come. Live by faith and never give up your commitment to Jesus Christ. (Hebrew 10:35-39)

Do we have to just go on enduring the pain without any help from God? Does God involve in our life during troubling times? Or Have God left us when we needed Him the most? The writer of the Hebrews tells us few important things in this regard.

1. Jesus Christ is able to help those who are being tempted. – Hebrew 2:18

2. Jesus Christ is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He is not out of touch with our reality. – Hebrew 4:15

3. Jesus Christ is able to save us completely because He always lives to intercede for us. – Hebrew 7:25

Don’t go back when you are going through tough times. Never give up. Our heavenly Father is always there to help us, to sympathize with us and to save us completely. He will sustain you through all the trials. So, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence and find Him there when we need him most. There shall we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrew 4:16)!! May God bless us all with His sustaining grace!!

by Kannannadars

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH?

Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For the past few months whole world is going through terrible times due to corona virus pandemic. Without any distinction believers and non-believers alike are falling victim to this pandemic and many of them have died. Many hearts are still grieving the loss of their near and dear ones. But what is the difference between the death of a believer and non-believer? What happens to them after the death? Do they have any hope after death? In 1 Corinthians 15:19 the Apostle Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” So, let us search the Scriptures together and see in brief what Scriptures tell us regarding this subject.

[A] What happens to those who die without Christ?

1. With their death, their hope also perishes. (Proverbs 11:7)

2. Their part will be in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

3. They will be punished for ever i.e. eternal punishment. (Matthew 25:46)

4. These people will pay the penalty and endure the punishment of everlasting destruction, banished from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

5. They will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12)

[B] What happens to those who die in Christ?

1. They have hope and confidence and a refuge even in death. (Proverbs 14:32)

2. Their body dies but their spirits depart to be with Christ. (Ecclesiastes 12:7, Luke 8:54-55, James 2:26, Acts 7:59, John 19:30, Luke 23:46, Matthew 27:50)

3. They immediately are in Christ’s presence. (Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, Philippians 1:21-24, John 17:24, Acts 7:54-60, Revelation 6:9-11)

4. They are conscious. (Matthew 22:32, 17:3, Mark 9:4, Luke 9:30)

5. They are living together with Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:10)

6. They are resting from their hard work. (Revelation 14:13)

7. They are worshiping the Lord day and night in His temple. (Revelation 7:15)

8. They are in a state of complete happiness and pleasure. (Psalms 16:11)

9. They are waiting for the bodily resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:12-49, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

The near and dear ones in Christ who have left us and entered into glory are going to come again with Jesus to get their new glorious bodies and rest of us who are alive will be caught up together with them (1 Th 4:17) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and then we will always be with our Master. Oh My God!! What a blessing!! We are going to be with them again in the presence of the Lord!! The rest of the mankind doesn’t have this hope. They are hopeless!!

I pray that may this truth go deep down into our hearts and may we not grieve like those who have no hope. May God comfort all the grieving hearts with this blessed hope!!

by Kannannadars

An Introduction to Apostle Paul

Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I would like to introduce to you all a great personality of the Bible and Christian history. He is none other than the great Apostle Paul who wrote the 13 Epistles of the New Testament. Let us together have a brief outlook on the life of Apostle Paul and be inspired in our personal walk with Lord Jesus Christ.

(A) HIS PERSONAL DETAILS

  1. His Birth and Nationality:
  1. His Family Background:
  1. His Education:
  • He studied in Jerusalem under Gamaliel (a highly esteemed Pharisee Doctor of Jewish law) and was thoroughly trained in Jewish laws and customs. (Acts 22:3)
  • According to traditions,
    • He started reading the Old Testament at the age of five.
    • At the age of six he started going to school.
    • At the age of ten he memorized the entire Law of Moses and was able to recite without seeing.
    • At the age of thirteen he was called ‘Son of the Law’.
  1. His Trade or Occupation:
  1. His Religion:

(B) HE RECEIVES GOD’S MERCY

(C) CONCLUDING MESSAGE

Your past biography cannot stop God to work in your life. The same Jesus Christ, who changed a terrible persecutor like Paul into a great propagator of the church, can change your life too.

by Kannannadars

DANIEL’S RESOLUTION

During the first siege of Jerusalem in the year 607 B.C., Daniel and his companions were captured and were taken to Babylon.

It was a fulfillment of prophecy made by prophet Isaiah in the year 712 B.C., when King Hezekiah was sick. (Isaiah 39:6-7)

As per the orders of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Daniel and his companions were among those chosen from the Israelites Royal family. These four young men were now in a new place among people of different culture, language, custom and religion, away from the comforts of their home. They were now captive and they could have to face terrible consequences if they didn’t follow the orders of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. King had ordered to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians and to give them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. By doing this, the King wanted to mould these young men into Babylonian culture. Even their names were changed and were given new names resembling Babylonian deities. (Daniel 1:1-8)

But, Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. Daniel was taught the Law of Moses from his childhood and he was very well aware that in Leviticus 11 Israelite’s were given regulation regarding clean and unclean food and they will get defiled if they don’t followed these regulations.  Also there was a custom to place the meat and wine in front of the idols before using them for preparing any food and it was forbidden for Israelite’s to consume the things offered to idols (Rev 2:14, 2:20).  Since he was suspicious about the kind of meat and wine to be given to them daily from the king’s table, he refused to eat and drink from it.  Daniel was under adverse circumstances away from the comforts of his homeland, but his life was still regulated by the Word of God!!

Who is regulating you?

Are you regulated by life’s circumstances or are you allowing God’s Word to regulate your life’s circumstances?

When in dilemmatic situation, are you consulting God’s Word?

While facing difficult trials and tribulations, are you standing tall for Christ or going with the flow?

May God help us to be resolute like Daniel in adversity.

by Kannannadars

Barnabas – A Spiritual Mentor

My greetings to all of you, in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If you look at the great personalities of this generation, you will find that they each had loyal mentors. And their mentorship took them to great heights.

For example, Mark Zuckerberg who is co-founder of Facebook, his mentor was Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs. Bill Gates who is co-founder of Microsoft, his mentor was the world’s greatest investor Warren Buffet. And Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, was mentored by Sir Freddy Laker, the founder of Laker Airways.

Similarly, in the Bible we can see Barnabas as a mentor to Paul and Mark. Barnabas was very distinguished among the apostles, because of his nature. The apostles named him Barnabas, meaning “son of encouragement”.

About three years after the conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But everyone was afraid of him because of his past history of persecuting the church. At that time Barnabas was the one who spoke to the apostles and verified the story of Paul’s conversion. And finally, Paul was accepted within the church. After this Paul stayed with them in Jerusalem and preached about Jesus Christ. When the Jews tried to kill him, the believers sent him to Tarsus, his homeland. (Acts 9:26-30)

Nearly nine years had passed since these events and Paul still lived in his homeland Tarsus. Who knows what was going through his mind at that time? Was he waiting for God’s time? Was he dropping out of the picture of the New Testament? Was he going to settle in his motherland and become a professor? We do not know what his plans were. The only thing we know is that Barnabas went looking for Paul in Tarsus and found Paul. He brought him to Antioch and encouraged him in active Christian ministry which changed his life and the rest of history. Barnabas did not write even a single word of the New Testament. But Barnabas played a faithful mentor in Paul’s life. He encouraged Paul. Later we can see that this Paul wrote about fifty percent of the New Testament books. Barnabas was the driving force through which Paul reached the heights of the life of faith.

When Paul offered Barnabas a second missionary trip, differences arose about Mark. Paul refused to take him as Mark departed in the middle of the first missionary journey and returned to his mother’s home in Jerusalem. In Paul’s view, Mark was a cowardly and unreliable person. But Barnabas, who encouraged others, insisted on taking Mark with him. This incident separated Paul and Barnabas. (Acts 15:36-41)

Barnabas took Mark with him and encouraged him in Christian service. This young man later became a worthy servant of Christ, and even later Paul accepted this. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul says, “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” Later, Mark also wrote a New Testament book. Mark also achieved the heights of the life of faith.

Barnabas had no ambition to make himself big. He cared more for the fame and success of others than himself. The disciples in Jerusalem saw Paul’s terrible history. Paul saw a previous failure in Mark. But Barnabas saw a bright future in both.

May God help us in the coming days to become trusted mentors of many youth of our generation and encourage them in Christian service. God bless you all.