ASH WEDNESDAY

Read vigilantly and meditate:

GOD PRONOUNCES JUDGEMENT

….And God said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again.” (Genesis 3:17-19)

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May He be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

THE GLORIOUS FISH

The Holy Bible says, “When the net is full, they pull it to the shore and sit down to divide the fish; the good ones into their buckets….”  (Matthew 13:48)

PART TWO

The first creation, Adam and Eve could not foresee and overcome the cunning plan of Satan, where as Lord Jesus demonstrated that using the Word of God as a sharp weapon mankind can overcome the world and its power.  Those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons; while those who live according to the human desires are surely going to perish. Preparing yourself for the Eternal Reward is sure to raise an internal fight to overcome the lust of your eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride in gaining something and everything of this world. The fruit that God forbade them to eat was always in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve never felt the fruit as attractive as they were under the command of God’s glory. They had so much to enjoy in the marvellous creation with like mindedness and same opinion. It was only when they lend a ear to satan’s explanation of the fruit they were attracted to it and disobeyed God. Consuming the fruit opened their eyes to all dreadful views. Dislike towards each other, difference in opinion cropped up, dissatisfaction arose, aware of the things they lacked, sadness made place where joy once reigned; love gave way to hatred. In their supremacy of ignorance, they began to find fault in God’s creation- forgetting their origin of existence.  The veil of God’s glory was torn off  and destroyed by the cheater who still gains access to each one and continues his destructive work in us all.  

Our Lord then began His mission delightfully by preaching His message,“Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of Heaven is here,” demonstrating  to us how to win over the world and its tempting powers.  Through the Incarnated Word of God, Lord Jesus brought goodness of joy to all the people and in His Name the message of repentance and forgiveness of sin must be preached to all nations. God, the Lord of all, richly blesses the Jews as well as the Gentiles and all those who call out to Him, without any partiality. Every Apostle had the divine opportunity to enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven except for Judas Iscariot who became a bad fish in the net and lost the eternal reward. Likewise, the holy invitation is sent to all by the Divine Host and it is our responsibility to accept the invite, carefully guard the precious treasure that is handed over to us and be prepared to give away each and everything that belongs to the world to safeguard our Eternal Fortune. As mentioned above, Lord Jesus has already taught us the basic qualities that are required to enter the Kingdom of God. (John 3:5)Through the Apostles, everyone in Jerusalem was familiar with the extraordinary miracles performed by Lord Jesus; meanwhile the Scriptures do clear that some of them did not believe in it. The Heavenly Kingdom of God that Lord Jesus introduced and acquainted to us is entitled to all who live in His justice.

Ponder yourself with these questions: Do I belong to the Kingdom of Heaven as a good fish caught by the disciple of Lord Jesus?

If not, how can I transform myself into a good one?

Though I have heard about the love and concern of Lord Jesus Christ, yet what could it be that is forbidding me to follow Him?

Let us once again walk through the Garden of Eden and see the occurrence after the disobedience of our ancestors Adam and Eve. Sovereign God in His utmost affection for his children humbles Himself to visit and walk with them as day by day. But after the disobedience, human being, the prime of His creation loses their virtue and are aware of their ungodliness to stand in front of their Creator. The absence of holiness forbids them from partaking in His life. This is also one of the concerns why certain people cannot remain steadily in God’s presence. Even today, God visits us, but we, mere human, find excuses to hide from Him due to the uncleanness of our soul.  No one wishes to be an unclean or a rotten fish which is good only to be thrown to the fiery furnace. Forgetting that the enemy is within us we often prepare ourselves for a battle to evade thinking that our enemies from outside would attack us. 

So let us begin our fight against the forces that lead us to ugliness by casting the thief out; covering yourself then, with the veil of God’s glory can transform you into a glorious fish in the Basket that would be carried by the holy angels to welcoming Heaven where we would be enthroned and crowned.

May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May He be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favour and give you peace.

With love filled blessings,

Your Sister in Christ

CHRISTEN SECTION

WORD OF GOD- THE SWORD OF A WARRIOR

After Lord Jesus was baptized, He went into the wilderness for forty days and nights. He did not eat anything during those days and by the end of the forty days He was hungry.  Here, Satan tried finding ways to test our Lord to disobey God. Since Jesus was hungry, satan said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, change these stones lying on the ground to turn into loaves of bread and you will have food to eat.” In spite of his appetite, Lord Jesus rebuked satan with the Word of God,  “The Scriptures say that it is more important to obey God than to feed yourself.”

 Lord Jesus came to this world to save us from our sinful state, to create a new and pure heart in us; satan knew this very well and he wanted God’s plan of Salvation to be brought to a standstill.

Satan tried his chance to persuade Lord Jesus again but our Lord defended Himself from its attack with the Word of God. Finally, as a last trick He tried to convince Lord Jesus to worship him and in return would give Him power over all the kingdoms of the earth. Again Lord Jesus shielded Himself from the devil with the Word of God, “Get out of here, Satan! It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You shall worship only God and serve Him alone.” Then Satan left the Lord; and angels came and cared for Lord Jesus. See the power of the Word of God.

From the beginning of the creation; time and again satan is out to test us. It is up to you to decide if you wish to attack the Satan like Lord Jesus or fall into its sin-coated desires like the first parents, Adam and Eve, who could not resist it boldly , thus creating generations of sinful mankind.

You must be wondering when you have encountered temptations. Let’s go through your routine? Every time when you disobey, create or indulge in a fight; snatching or grabbing other’s things, when you are rude and lazy, utter small and big lies; waste your food; when you fail to do your duties at its proper time; turn a blind eye to those in need of your help etc….

These are some of the crucial moments when you fall short to receive your blessings. So this week we insist that as young prayer warriors, you ready yourselves with ample Word of God. Make the Holy Bible a part of your life, give it a suitable holy place it deserves and read and memorize it.

So educate yourselves with appropriate Bible verses, so that you can shoo away Satan, win your daily temptations and testify us, your victories in the Lord.

LET US PRAY

Infant Jesus, incarnate Word of God, make me a servant of Your Word.

I love You Abba Father;

I trust in You, Lord Jesus;

I hope in You, Holy Spirit;

Mother Mary, pray for all children. Amen!

May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May He be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

With love filled blessings, 

Your Sister in Christ