Abundant Life

Life is a gift, gift from God.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims that He is the way truth and the life. The fundamental fact in the possession of life was the vital relationship with God. Men first lived because God breathed into them the breath of life. Man's vital energies are the out flowing of the spirit, and all activities are dependent upon the vitalizing power from God.. In verse 10 of Chapter 10, It is written the phase ‘abundance of life’. It is giving a new meaning and new destination to life. What God desires for His people is to have happiness, peace and genuine friendship with Him and others.

Unfortunately many of us are still missing out the abundance of life experience. Perhaps they do not believe in the abundance of life is truly available to them. The good news is that, we all are invited to experience the abundance of life experience

I have come across a life story of Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace. In His book, a confession he tells the story of his search for meaning and purpose in life. He rejected Christianity as a child. As he went through he becomes very ambitious in achievements. First he thought that pleasure is the destiny of life. Having a great time. He entered the city of Moscow and habituated with heavy drinking a wild life. But it didn’t satisfy him. He then thought that may be money is the answer for happiness and inner peace. He had inherited an estate and made large amount of money out of his books. Yet that didn’t satisfy him. He then sought success, fame and importance. But still he said, it didn’t satisfy. Then he thought family life would bring happiness to him. He married to a nice woman and had thirteen Children. In reality, none of these things brought satisfaction in his life. One question brought him to the verge of suicide. What meaning has my life that the inevitability of death does not destroy. He searched for the answer in science and philosophy, but he became more dissatisfied. Eventually he found the answer in the peasant people in Russia, that their faith in Jesus Christ.

Christian life is built on the foundation of faith and gift of grace. The scripture says through faith we are saved. In the following part of  chapter 10, Jesus' then audience were unable to grasp the meaning of His actions or doin They were trying to find some point to trap Jesus instead of understanding or accepting Him. But the call to abundance of life is revealed and established in the general revelation of nature, and specific revelation through scripture and through the crucified one. Christian life includes a commitment of our intellect, emotions and will, to the gift of Gods love and forgiveness.

 As we walk in faith and obedience to God, our life will definitely change. Christian life is characterised by infinite limit of eternity. The consciousness of the fellowship with God led men to life., and daily war against ‘Sheol’. Focal point of eternity is the relationship with God.

Father T J Joshua said  ‘We are forgetting our ends and makings the means as the end’. In our life attempts, in our ministry we have to delve for the more realised truth and to transfer that reality to those who all encounter with us. No philosophy, no religion can hamper the truth which we realised in personal proclamation.

Abundance of life is not necessarily a life of comfort and ease. Life is not just limited in pleasure, performance, possession, position or pursuits. It is not something quick, but it evolved through our daily experiences. It is dependent on our responses to life.

Sigmund Freud had spoken of death and life instinct. Life instincts are important for the sustenance of our life. Behaviours commonly associated with life instinct include love and cooperation.  In Freud’s view, self destructive behaviours is an expression of the energy created by the death instincts. It is important for us to find the natural and environmental factors which would bring elements of death to our living experiences.

As counsellors, we need to be extending our service as a true shepherd. Those who come to us for help should see us not as stranger, but a true helper with proper empathy and genuineness.  Let us be the door of inner peace, and a way that leads to ultimate truth...

Let me conclude this short speech by reciting a favourite poem by Mother Theresa:

Life is an Opportunity, benefit from it...

Life is beauty, admire it...

Life is bliss, taste it...

Life is a dream realise it..

Life is a challenge, meet it...

Life is duty complete it...

Life is a game, play it...

Life is costly, care for it...

Life is wealth, keep it...

Life is love, enjoy it...

Life is mystery, know it...

Life is a promise, fulfil it...

Life is a sorrow, overcome it...

Life is a song, sing it...

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, confront it...

Life is an adventure, dare it...

Life is luck, make it...

Life is too precious don’t destroy it...

Life is life, fight for it..

May God bless us all..!!

Art of appreciating our experiences..!!!

I would like to think with you all, on the beauty and grandeur of enjoying our experiences and situation which we are living in. In that extend, we can see two kinds of people in the world. People at the first category never learnt to appreciate things, people or experiences. They focus only on the negatives in life and gradually become pessimistic. But at the same time, there is the other category, which always focuses on positives or the bright side of all events or happenings in life. It’s an attitude of seeing things in perspective and keeping hope alive. Someone rightly said that ‘attitude not aptitude determines ones altitude in life’. It is important for us to look into ourselves and see our attitude and to determine today, that whether we need to develop an attitude to adjust, appreciate and to enjoy our situations.
Paul in Philippians exclaims that he is learned to adjust with any situation in his life and ministry. He had developed an attitude of contentment. Sounds simple, but its vitally important for us to develop the attitude to appreciate situations and to make maximum use of it.
It is important for any person to accept the fact that God is placing him/her in a particular situation to manifest His purposes through my life. So it is important to accept that calling and commissioning to move forward with more focused and more energetic. This attitude will definitely help us to depend upon God and enjoy each situation without grumbling or murmuring. In the same way we have to develop self respect and affirmation of our self in that situation. In my experience I can say, a group can make a huge impact in our personal life, then any individual effort. We would be having a dark experience of past, we are given the right chance to change ourselves to develop self worth through proper interaction and engagement. We should be able to accept others as partakers in fulfilling the purposes God assigned to us. We have to be ready to share our resources, whether our talent, time or care for others, as it make an impact upon our life as well as others. It is important to get inspired and inspire other people to bring positivity from deep inside so that we become genuinely positive. We need to have an attitude of humility like Jesus had. We need to get rid of the negative things that feed our negative attitude and replace them with positive things that will give us a positive attitude.
We are what we think we are, and what we do is the result of our thoughts. A positive mindset is very important, because it act as a basis of happiness. Moreover it provides us with the momentum to achieve our potential to its fullest extent in our personal and professional life. A normal person with normal thinking lives a normal life and doesn’t know what to expect or how to react in a given situation. People with positivity can see opportunity even in difficult situations.  Life is full of positives and we just have to take them into consideration as we experience life. We should all live to our full potential through all these life experiences. Paul and Silas were imprisoned. But they chose to see that place as a most comforting place. They chose to worship God in the dark room. They ultimately find happiness in their life.
Viktor Frankl, founder of Logo Therapy, has the harrowing experience of being imprisoned in four nazi camps. During this period, he survived selections of who should live or die today, forced labour, brutal capos, beatings, malnutrition, diseases and so on. His all body shaved and were subjected to other forms of humiliations. In all these sufferings, he didn’t just complain or hate his life. Frankl had the opportunity to observe human nature under extreme circumstances. Many prisoners with him gave up and hate their life. But few prisoners along with Frankl deepened spiritually and took these experiences as tests of their inner strength. They rose to the challenge of finding meaning in their lives. Frankl quotes Nietzsche: ‘He who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how’.
What’s our attitude toward life? When my attitude is right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.” Let’s choose to be positive about life. Let’s be positive toward God, others and ourselves. We need a living hope to get through life and endure suffering. A living hope enables us to have both sorrow and joy. Our living hope is an inheritance achieved for us by Christ.
I pray and wish that God may enable us to adjust with all situations, making use of all chances, and to enjoy all events in more fruitful and productive way. God bless us all..!!

Right to be righteous.!!

Christian faith and life is built around the reality of Kingdom of God. It could be maintained by our relationship with God and with His creations. We know Sermon on the Mount is the most influential teaching of Jesus which proclaims the principles of the Kingdom. Beatitudes in Chapter 5 contains the blessed conditions of a disciple in the Kingdom. The word blessed denotes a complete and perfect happiness in the inner person. Thus it may contradict to the general notion regarding blessing.

Verse 5 gives the condition of righteousness. God is a righteous God which was manifested through His life and ministry. As a follower of Christ we have to act as agents of righteousness for the oppressed and dominated people by making them aware of their bondages.

The religious people of Jesus’s time were looking at the outward expressions of a person. Their spirituality was concentrated on certain external factors. They were the people of law or custom. They avoid the significance of internal condition of a person. Jesus right away called them hypocrites. We are to be righteous in our relation with a righteous and just God, primarily through our inner being. But it is sure that what is there in our inner self will manifest in our outward personality.

This particular verse is affixed with the human experience of thirst and hunger. That gives us the idea of continuous strive for righteousness in our life. We have to work for bringing righteousness in our and others life. If we dedicate ourselves for a righteous life through our words, deeds and attitude, then the righteous God will fulfil us with heavenly blessings.

The verse 10, reminds us of the blessed experience of a people who are suffering or persecuted because of righteousness. It is a very plain fact that righteous would undergo sufferings in their life. This verse pronounces the right reward of a righteous person. Jesus says theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We may undergo difficulties and harsh experiences if we stand for righteousness in our life. But we have to live for establishing righteousness in our self, in our personality, our dealings and in our relations. Friend, God will definitely establish His righteousness in our life at the right time. God wants us to be glad always and to follow His path not with feeling of resentment, grudge or anxiety.
So we have to be bold enough to proclaim and establish the values of the Kingdom of God. It will enable us to see and experience the beauty of His Kingdom in our midst now and in our relations....


Blessings..