Reflections

  The Path to Grace and Restoration    Bible Reading: St. James 4:7-10  Key Verse :St. James 4:8  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  DEVOTION In our faith journey, it is essential to ensure that we are right with God. As broken people in a broken world, we often fall short of God’s perfect standard. Our pursuit of a contrite heart is often marred by sin. As St. Paul says in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  However, it is still of utmost importance that we consistently examine our hearts to see if we are knowingly or unknowingly allowing sin to plague us. Until and unless we cleanse our hearts of all transgressions, we cannot fully experience the grace of God.  In the book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes, “It is a misconception to think we can add Christ to our lives without subtracting ...

  Christ Who Embraces The Rejected Bible Reading:  St. Mark 1:40-45 Key Verse : St. Mark 1:40-41  “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”  DEVOTION In this passage, we see a man begging at the feet of Jesus, desperate to be cleansed from his leprosy. In the days of Jesus, leprosy was, in many ways, a death sentence. Those who contracted it were shunned by society, forced into isolation, and labeled as outcasts. Leviticus 13 and 14 highlight the harsh reality of their rejection. They show how lepers were stripped of their dignity and marked as untouchable. Leviticus 13:45 states, “Anyone with such a defiling disease… must cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’”  Yet in Mark 1, we see this leper does not cry out “Unclean!” as the law re...

  God’s Promise of Healing and Restoration.  Bible Reading:  Jeremiah 33:6-11 Key Verse : Jeremiah 33:8  The sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,  for the Lord is good ;His love endures forever “ .  For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before “ says the Lord ( New international Version)  DEVOTION Firstly as an introduction to today’s  reading, in the Book of Jeremiah we are given to understand the destruction of Jerusalem from the Babylonian invasion. Jerusalem was annihilated. Men, women and children were carried away as slaves as the Babylonian army completely devasted Jerusalem and desecrated the temple in the invasion. One of the captives who was carried away was young Jewish slave Daniel who later wrote an entire Book in the Old Testament. God would restore Jerusalem not because ...

  Courage and Obedience in God’s Plan  Bible Reading:  Book of Esther  4:13-16 Key Verse :  Esther 4:14 “  if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” ( The Living Translation) DEVOTION Firstly as an introduction to the Bible Portion in the Book of Esther , This chapter 4 in the Book of Esther ,  is perhaps one of the most popular chapter in the Book of Esther , whereby Esther ‘s mentor and cousin  Mordecai in this chapter  literally persuades Queen Esther to  stand up for her people against the diabolical plan of Haman and in essence stand up to save the Jewish People.  The Book of Esther is very intriguing  and is one of the unique Books in the Old Testament because its one of the two books in Old Testament named after woman. The auth...

  Forgiveness and Mercy   Bible Reading: St. Matthew 18:18-27 Key Verse : Jesus answered  ‘ I tell you not seven times but seventy -sevnen times ‘ St. Matthew 18.22 ( The Living Translation)    DEVOTION Firstly let us focus on today’s Reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 18 :18-27 that focuses on forgiveness and mercy . The Bible Portion focuses on how Jesus wants us to forgive those who hurts us and requests us to be merciful to those who offends us. The topic of forgiveness is perhaps a much debated topic as conflict resolution even in the Church is an issue that impacts each of our lives. We often tend to deal with conflicts filled with emotions and that often leads to more resentment and additional conflicts . Thus we turn to today’s portion where Apostle Peter inquires with Jesus from feasible stand point on how many times does Jesus think we must forgive those who offend us and hurt us. Apostle Peter thinking seven was good number ,  quizzes...

  Perfect Love Drives out Fear   Bible Reading:  1 John  4 : 11-21   Key Verse :  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ( I John 4 :18 (New Living Translation)  DEVOTION Firstly let us focus for moment on the Apostle John , who has was not only the author of Gospel of John , Book of Revelations but also the Pastor Letters of 1 John , 2 John and 3 John. Apostle John is considered the disciple that Jesus loved and there is plenty of mention of love through all Apostle John’s writings. Apostle John was during the final years of life banished to the island of Patmos where would live a life of exile.  We read further in today’s reading from 1 John 4 , where the chapter focuses on rejecting and guarding against false teacher and continuing  to live in God’s love for us.  The verses we focus today are from 1 John  4 : 11-21 ...

  Call to Repentance and Restoration  Bible Reading: Joel  2 : 12-17   Key Verse Joel 2.12 ( New Living Translation)  Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting , with weeping and with mourning.  DEVOTION Firstly let us dwell briefly on the Book of Joel and the message the Old Testament Prophet has for in today’s world . Joel was prophet to the nation of Judah which was also called the Southern Kingdom during the reign of King Joash .  Joel message is so relevant to our times and that is sin brings God’s judgement and yet God’s justice is full of mercy and love to those who are willing to turn their lives back to God.  We focus for our brief mediation today , on Joel Chapter 2 , where there is devastating effects of the locust plague . The plague was going to happen in the lives of the  those in Judah.  They  were going to experience a crises and the locust plague was only a forerunner to greater crises that was fall on the p...