BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing English Emagazine March 2020 | Page 5

and thus brought many sons to glory (Heb 2:
10,11).
When Jesus was a helpless Baby, God sent
His angel to save Him. But when He became a
man, God forsook Him to make His own
decisions. At times when we are helpless and
weak and run into rough weather, God will
certainly help us miraculously, but other times
God expects us to wilfully choose His will.
Satan will show us all the glories of the
world and promise to give us “all” and coddle us
that we may not fall to the ground and die. Sadly
many have fallen at his feet to worship him. Today
they are blessed by him and made to believe they
are God's blessing. The sure sign that all your
blessings are from God is your death to worldly
gain and pleasure. Today if God tells you, 'Sell all,
give to the poor, take up your cross and follow
Me,' what will be your response? Will it rattle your
spine with fear? The disciples sold their
possessions (because they loved not the world)
and kept them at the Apostles “feet,” because they
were also dead to riches. By faith Moses 'left' not
'got' (Heb 11). Faith is leaving, not cleaving.
Our missionary Peter Luis left his job in the
Gulf and along with his wife Elizabeth and two
little daughters settled in a God-forsaken place in
Maharashtra. He is now multiplying like yeast.
Missionary Ponniah and his wife Satyavathi
pushed themselves to cross unfamiliar
thresholds in the jungles of Odisha and gave birth
to numerous churches. They taught to read and
write to knots of men in the night and brought
hope and dignity to hundreds. These people were
willing to fall down and die on dirty soil.
Like Peter, our well meaning friends and
relatives may put a block to our death. We tell
them we want to renounce the world, we want to
give away a substantial portion of our wealth to
God's work, we want to resign our prestigious job
and serve God, we want to dedicate a child for
ministry, they “rebuke” us that such a thing
should not happen to us (Mt 16:22). We do not
have the guts to tell the relative/friend/disciple,
“Get behind me satan.” “Don't be foolish,” they
tell us. “We must be willing to get rid of the life
we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting
for us,” says Mr. Joseph Campbell. It is jumping
into the unknown. When my relative was told that
I was going to marry a preacher she told me, “So
you are going to take a tambourine and go on the
street.” Thank God, that did not discourage me.
People have said I wasted one medical seat. I don't
think so. My medical knowledge is fully utilized in
God's service. It had been a bumpy beginning, but
so much had come full circle. If I died now, I would
think that I made the best out of my life. There are
many ways by which we think we can please God.
But do we try to please Him the way He wants?
Martha wanted to please Jesus by her cooking.
But Mary pleased Him the way He wanted.
I don't in the least mean that all of us should
resign our earthly jobs to serve God fulltime. No.
We need the basic amenities of life. But all of us
must fall to the ground and die, that we may not
suffer loneliness, but produce plenty of grain.
Jesus said: “Here I am … I have come to do Your
will, My God”(Heb 10:7). All of us must tell God
this and proceed to do His will. Heart of hearts we
know the will of God for us, but we seek loopholes
to wriggle out to do our own will. Risk indeed; but
big rewards go to those who take big risks. Only a
small percentage does this, and that is the
remnant.
May be you have fallen to the ground and
weeping, “How long Lord, how long?” Wait. Keep
putting one foot in front of the other towards your
next goal, with faith, prayer and trust. Charles
Spurgeon said, “By perseverance the snail
reached Noah's Ark.” “This is what the kingdom of
God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.
Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the
seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know
how. All by itself the soil produces grain first the
stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the
head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the
sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mk 4 :
26-29). You need patience brother, sister. You cry
about your dirty situation; you complain about
the way you are treated but you don't realize it is
the dirty “soil produces grain.” Winning is often
the result of persistence, of not giving up when
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