Reflections

Boldly Forward!
John 20:19-23

v21 - Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”   I once heard that a young man came to John Wesley and told him that he was tremendously burdened with fear and anxiety.  As they were walking and talking, Wesley told him to look at the cow in the field.  It was looking over a stone wall.  Wesley asked the young man, “Why do you think the cow is looking over the stone wall?”  The young man said, “I’m not sure”.  Then Wesley replied, “Because he can not look through the stone fence”.  In the midst of our current pandemic it can be very easy to look at the stone walls of fear, anxiety and stress that surround us.  However, the Risen Jesus Christ invites us “look beyond the wall”.  That is, we must look beyond our sufferings and pain and that is only possible in the experience of faith.  In Christ, we are more than conquerors and it is in Him that we can know true victory in the face of adversity.

As we consider this pass…

Promise of the Holy Spirit
Acts 1:1-8
V5 “…for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Bible shows that our God is a God who keeps his promises to His people (Numbers 23:19). Perhaps this is something that we would have experience in our life too. The Bible shows how God fulfilled His promise to send a Savior to redeem the world. And in the above verse we see Jesus reminding the apostles that God would send the Holy Spirit on them. That Holy Spirit would be God’s presence with them after Jesus is ascended to heaven (John 14:16,18). It would comfort them in their tribulations. It would give them the words to speak (Luke 12:12). It would bring conviction about sin, righteousness and judgement (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit would be the driving force for the gospel. It would be the constant companion as the disciples fulfil their God-given duty as witness for Christ (Acts 1:8). In Acts 2, we see the Holy Spirit coming on the Apostles …

ACKNOWLEDGING CHRIST BEFORE MEN.
ST. LUKE 12: 8-12

V12 “For the Holy Spirit willteach you in that very hour what you ought to say. The chapter begins with Jesus cautioning his disciples to be on their guard against the yeast of the Pharisees that is hypocrisy. Even as his popularity grew, so did the fierce opposition of the Pharisees and Scribes who were now more determined than ever to trap Jesus in his words and later accuse him. Jesus could sense the growing fear in the minds of his disciples and he speaks words of comfort, conviction and hope to them.
CONFESSING CHRIST:
So that they are not dominated by fear, Christ exhorts people to acknowledge him (by their word and their works) before the world. We need to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. (Romans 10:9). Christ could then acknowledge us as his own (Mat.10:31) when we stand, helpless and ashamed of every sin we committed, before God and all creation! But those who c…

THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
v9 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  The heart of the passage is in verse 9, “My Grace is sufficient for you”. The word ‘Grace’ is a magnificent word and comes from the Greek word ’Charis’. This spiritual word refers to divine favor, divine blessing and divine benefit. It refers to which God has given to us in Christ, not because we earned or deserved it but because of His will. Gospel of St John 1:14 says, “He was full of Grace”. And out of this fullness we received Grace.
Suffering humbles you. (vs:7)St. Paul says the reason for his suffering is to keep him from exalting himself. God gives him a Thorn in his flesh to kill his proud tendencies. So embrace the suffering that humbles you. Suffering draws us to God (Vs: 8)St. Paul prays to God 3times. His prayer was in fait…

Promise of the Holy Spirit Psalm 42: 1-11 v5-6,” Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” The current pandemic has tested our nation’s resiliency in several ways: testing capacity, contact tracing, and the catastrophic impact to the economy as unemployment rises. Our entire world halted by a plague smaller than the human eye can see. Many of us know affected family members and friends, neighbors who have succumbed to death, and those who have been furloughed indefinitely. In these trying moments, our first response is to question “Why” and “How long?” The concept of suffering has troubled the human mind for centuries, and that is what the songwriter in Psalm 42 feels and explains. The entire passage is metaphorical and poetic. The songwriter portrays his distress figuratively in verse7, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Troubles are…