It is so true to say that the return of the Lord is very near and His Bride is preparing for His return very swiftly. Yes, there is a generation of believers who have all their eyes set upon the return of their Lord; they are pruning themselves, redeeming themselves through the finished work of Christ, awakened, and yearning in their spirits for His return. Nevertheless, there is also another set of believers who believe in the return of the Lord but are slumbering in the love of the world. Warming up themselves with the grace preachings, they love to be glorified along with Christ, partaking in all His beauty and riches but deny to take up their cross and follow Him.

The time is near, says the Lord, and His Bride has made herself ready! True to her concern, she is not among those who love to be pampered, who sets herself safe within her comfort zone and amuses herself in the lust of the world. On the Contrary, the Bride of Christ knows that it takes warfare to see her Groom, she is aware that nothing but the holiness in spirit could win the heart for her groom. She raises herself up, puts on the warrior robe, and sets forward to show love to her Master! How passionate is the bride for her Groom; she knows all her fervency is going to be worth it one day. Do read on to know if you are one among that warrior bride of Christ. If not, it’s time we prepare ourselves in Spirit and truth.

Qualities of the Top Notch Warrior Bride of Christ:

They grow to have an innate knowledge that they were born for such a time as this: They are brave; immovable. That doesn’t mean they don’t get frustrated with what happens in their daily life; doesn’t mean they don’t get tired, disappointed with the cycles in their life; doesn’t mean that everything that happens to them is great. It means that no matter what happens around them- they understand that – they were put there for a purpose as this. They tend to know that, they were called for that very hour; exceedingly, sorrowful hour which they were to fulfill.

According to Acts 17:26-28 -“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” they believe that their boundaries, the circumstances around them are all particularly designed by God for them to grow in Spirit. They grow in the innate knowledge that their arrival at this point was planned by God who has designed them to accomplish what they were called to do.

They never doubt in their heart that God will back them up: They are stern in their battle with the devil and His kingdom. While some of them wage war with the witches & curses, some do with the belief system of the people around them; some do with their failures; some with their own limitations in finances, family, and material needs. But whatever be the battle, they are aware that they are designed to conquer it and rule over it. They grow in this understanding by consistently abiding in Christ.

They toil to know the ways of God and consistently abide in Him: They know His ways in order to know Him intimately. There is no way one can get to know His ways if they don’t spend time with Him, to recognize why He did, what He did in just what happened to us. His warrior bride grows to recognize that God in his incredible omniscience, knows exactly what was needed at this time in society & created her with the purpose that she alone can achieve. She toils to know the heart of her Master and preservers to please Him with all her heart. She also understands that she was created with everything required for her to accomplish the task handed over to her, she doesn’t nag over her lack.

They have an unfailing belief that God’s grace will prepare them for His will: They are aware that their shortcomings are never a limitation to God working through them. In spite of their imperfection, they don’t restrict themselves to yield to their Master’s excellency in using them. They also have the understanding that it may not be like they think it will be. They understand that God doesn’t operate within the boundaries set by them; that God plans are better, way batter than theirs. They know that the results from God’s working would produce greater results than their own. They give up in their own way. They have an unbelievable faith that God will prepare them for what He has called them, no matter what.

They fall but they also raise up from their fall:  They never take up the task  & try to manipulate the situations to achieve it. They may fail in their attempt, but dishonesty is not their cup of tea. Warriors do make mistakes but they also learn their lessons quickly. All champions start with a fall and it’s quite common; like Jacob – deceiving; Jospeh – going & telling his dream to his brothers & trying to influence him but what is known. Abraham went into the maidservant.  But, only the real warriors arise from their failures to realize that God is about to call them to do something they are totally incapable of doing. They go through certain phases where God removes the self out of them, God teaches them to rely upon Him completely and give up their manual efforts.

There you see a warrior bride is so much more different than the fancy one. Jesus is coming soon and there is His bride waiting for Him without fail. Let’s push our standards higher to live up to this call for the One who has called is worthy of all our preparation.

God Bless You.
– Sis. Shruti

It is in such times that, the devil plays his biggest play against us; whispering into our ears all his lies, making us yield to his tactics.  But, even in such times, we must believe that our Lord is faithful to us, only a little knowledge of His ways would reveal to us the mystery behind His silence. It is very natural for us to question God, why such a thing is allowed in our life; Is it a temptation of the devil or a test of God; Is it our own sin leading us to suffer or is it a part of suffering with Christ? Certainly, we need to discern and understand what comes from God to edify us, and what comes from the evil one, so that we could avoid it. Knowledge of His ways directs our steps into greater light. With this revelation of how a test of God differs from the temptation of the evil one, you would know how to face your battles in your downtime.

Let’s study from James 1: 2 to 15, where James writes about two prominent aspects that come to try the faith of every believer- Trails and Temptations. In verse 2 (‘My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials..’), he talks about trails and further in verse 12 (Blessed is the man who endures temptation), he talks about temptations. Certainly, he means to say that both are different and need to be dealt with uniquely.

What is a trail?
A trail is a challenge, it is an exam to test you, through which you will be qualified to next level. For you to advance into the next level you surely must go through trials, the result of which will bear you a good testimony on the other side of the eternity. These tests come from the Lord to promote you to the next level of glory. God tested Abraham, David, Moses, and all His servants before He could promote them.

James says in Verse 2, count it all joy when you fall into various trials because God is testing you for your good. Trails come to those who walk in His will and require some more pruning to be further qualified in His will. The very reason behind these trails is to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit in you that you may stand strong on the day of the battle. Remember, without facing the wild bears in the forest, David would have been powerless against Goliath; so was the jail experience for Joseph and many more examples you can relate to. We must be joyous because God’s eyes are on us and He is designing situations for us to go through so that we may bear much fruit for His glory in the latter days.

Remember, these trails never harm or put you to loss, they are only to strengthen the spirit person in you. If you fail in your test, you will have to go through again and again, until you finally overcome it. The only loss is the loss of time. Abraham took 25 years; Moses took 40 years while David took 7 years to learn the lesson of faith through various testing and trails. Your failures don’t stop God from working on you, He starts off all over again from where you last fell. This is the nature of a trail. The end result of a trail is to produce ‘patience’- a quality without which you cannot march any further.

How to face a trial?
> Count it all joy.
> Be joyous in trails, do not allow your peace to be stolen.
> Be patient.
> Allow the fruits of the Spirit to be strengthened in you.
> Ask God for wisdom or great light about the things concerning you.
> Do not doubt, show greater faith that before; it is all working for your good.

What is temptation?

On the contrary, temptation never comes from God. Temptation comes as a result of the enemy’s seed inside us luring us towards the sin. James talks about the mechanism of temptation in a believer’s heart in verses 14-15-“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Having a desire is not wrong but allowing it to draw you away from God’s ways is wrong. When you are drawn away by that desire, you will be enticed (lured and fooled.) Then your very own desire starts deceiving you and it starts becoming stubborn in you. Furthermore, when it is fully matured, it forces you to sin against God’s leading. When you get into this habit of consciously sinning, it results in your spiritual death.

The test is taken until you are qualified to the next level but the temptation is not so. It is either DO or DIE; that’s the reason God says- “Blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Furthermore, enduring the temptation doesn’t mean you are approved; it is just the part of your story through which you are strengthened in Spirit.

How to endure Temptation?
> Don’t blame God when you are tempted.
> Check where you have sinned -“area of sin”
> Check the reason which led you to sin; For it is this reason, which is a desire that you have in your heart against God’s will; which has misled you and turned you away from God’s will.
> Find out what the scriptures talk about that desire.
> Obey the word of God in that area and bring that desire under your control.
> For those who love the Lord can overcome this; have fellowship with the Lord.
> Deny the sin and show love to God.

Then you will be blessed and on approval, you will receive the crown of life (verse 12).

Do not let the enemy deceive you either way, neither in trails nor in temptations; for both are to test our faith and make us worthy of our calling. Amen.

God Bless You
-Sis. Shruti

Firstly, we need to be aware that, all those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him to be the Lord and Savior, receive the gift of Holy Spirit instantaneously, and the Spirit God comes and resides in the believer from then (Acts 2:38).

Secondly, Spirit God starts talking to those who incline their ears to Him. John 14:26- But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Yes, He speaks to us very actively. If we continue to obey His voice, He communicates with us, furthermore teaches us many new things that we would not have known otherwise, and He even reminds us of those things which God had revealed to us previously. So, here we understand Spirit God talks, communicates, teaches, and also reminds us of what God had already told us at various points in our life.

Here we are clear, Spirit God is in us; and He also actively speaks to us but how do we hear this voice and understand His leading is the next question. We hear His voice only when we have ears to listen to Him. One could see Jesus repeatedly quoting to the large crowds which had gathered to listen to Him during His ministry, “If only you have ears to listen, you will hear me. (Mat 11:15; Matt 13:9, 43, Mark 4:9 Mark 4:23, Luke 8:8.)” He was certainly not talking about the natural ears, but the spiritual ears which could recognize the voice of Holy Spirit amidst all the chaos, over the voice of the devil, over the voice of one’s own self.

Five things to strictly note when you want to hear from Holy Spirit God personally:

1. He speaks with a still small voice- We must always be aware that Spirit God is a gentleman(Mt 11:29), He is a Person and He is very gentle. He never forces His opinion on us, He never speaks on His own (Jn 16:13), He never frightens us or obsesses us that He could be heard. He speaks as a still, small voice from within us. John 10:27- “My Sheep will listen to My Voice.” And further in John 8:47 – “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” Yes, it’s very true; a child of God can understand and hear the voice of his Father even in the midst of a multitude of voices just as an earthly child recognizes his own father’s voice over others. He recognizes the voice of the Father because he has the habit of hearing Him over and over again. Spirit God’s voice is always still, it never changes by our feelings, opinions, or our circumstances. He speaks very gently and softly to us and every time we obey this voice, we have peace in our hearts. I would firstly recommend you, as a child of God, to cultivate the habit of developing this spiritual ear towards your Father in heaven, by reading His word, by listening to the anointed ministers of God, by spending a good amount of time in conversing with God through prayer.

2. He speaks in alignment with His Word: At first, it could be unusual for us to recognize the voice of our Lord over others. How do we rightly claim that this voice is of Spirit and not? Purely by knowing His word, because Spirit God never speaks on His own, He speaks according to the word of God; John 16:13- “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” He speaks only of what is written in the Word for us. He reminds us of these scriptures when we rightly need them, He teaches us the depth of the scriptures when we are slow to understand, He uses the Word of God to direct us in the way we need to go as written in Isaiah 30:21- “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Apart from the Word, He doesn’t speak anything new to us. Those who read His word could quickly recognize His voice. Those who understand God’s heart in the scriptures will know when the Spirit God is speaking. The language of Spirit God is pure scripture driven, to master this language; you must first read His word.

3. He doesn’t speak when He is quenched: As we learned earlier, Spirit God is very gentle; He never compels us to do His will. As a result of which, we could fall in the danger of quenching Him (Eph 4:30; 1The 5:19) if we fail to quiet ourselves to hear Him. Every time we move/act/lead against the Word of God, we tend to quench the Spirit. Quenching is stopping the move of Holy Spirit in spite of Him talking to us and as a response to this, Spirit God is grieved. Quenching is what we do to Him when we go against the Word and grieving is how He responds to us on being quenched. He doesn’t speak any further when He is grieved and we lose the peace of God in our hearts. Those who walk according to the Word do not grieve the Spirit as in Gal 5:16- But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

4. He resists the proud but reveals His ways to the humble: A person who is in a strong conscious of listening to the voice of Spirit God will always make sure that he/she is in right standing with the God. Scriptures clearly say in 1 Peter 5:5-“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’.” The good thing about a humble, lowly, and meek person is that he has a receiving heart. Receiving heart always signifies of a good soil, where every seed sown by the Lord will be fruitful. It’s very important for us to always maintain a humble heart, not allowing pride in any manner to make room in us. Remember, pride is always blinding, every time we allow pride we are blinded to see the things of God just as they are. In Proverbs 11:2 it says- “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” The proud are led away by their own sin, but a humble person even if he goes wrong would quickly repent and receive the correction of the Lord. Such a lowly heart will always be a welcome place for Spirit God to actively move.

5. Receive His correction and He will freely operate through you: This is the greatest level in being led by Holy Spirit God; to be corrected by Him. Yes, not everybody can accept the correction except the wise. The wise and understanding of heart perceive and know that correction leads them to the next level in the anointing. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says “..for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Through correction, one is actively transformed and prepared for greater work of Spirit. Woe to those souls, who are shut to corrections, they hinder their own growth as quoted in Proverbs 12:1 -“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” Correction leads to growth, and growth leads to greater fruit of the Spirit. Spirit God in us actively convicts us of our sin (Jn 16:8), which we need to readily confess and do away with. Every form of sin in us hinders the move of Spirit in us. It is a wise thing to respond to the conviction of the Spirit and correct our lives according to His leading. Then, Spirit God would be free to operate through us.

With this, one could understand how he/she could be led by Spirit God and grow in the greater move of Spirit practically. Humbly, put these steps into practice and live your life to His fullest pleasure.

Be led by His Mighty Spirit as you obey His leading. Amen.
God Bless You.
– Sis. Shruti

In this age of deception, where could our children breathe the pure air of faith, whom would they look up to as a model of prayer and perseverance, whom shall they count upon for a selfless guidance, isn’t the mother called for this? So isn’t the husband known by the works of the wife? Yes, a woman has a great calling from the God in every role she plays. God fearing motherhood & the ministry of a submitting wife is indeed a unique ministry offered by her to the Church of God. Great is the contribution of the woman who lets herself to be used by God and on contrary great would be fall too if she is lead astray.

Here are the qualities of a model woman who could serve as a mighty instrument in the hands of God:

1. An ordinary woman: who is not expecting her life to be used in any extraordinary way. Her joy is to spend her time at the feet of God and offer her love to Him without any selfish ambitions. She does not value herself based on worldly measures like physical beauty, intelligence, natural gifts and various other abilities. It is her relationship with Jesus that gives her life significance. “The Lord with her” is all that which makes the difference in her life.

2. An Undeserving woman: She is regarded unworthy by the world. Even when the world (people around her) declare her to be unfit, unworthy for anything, she rests herself purely on the grace of God to qualify her. Such an undeserving woman is the one who is highly favored and graciously accepted by the Lord. You can be accepted only by grace and by nothing else- not by your deeds, your efforts, your works- it’s purely by the grace of God. The moment you stop to see yourself as undeserving instrument, chances are that you would cease to be useful in the hands of God.

3. A Spirit- filled woman: She is filled with the Spirit of God to fulfill the purpose for which God has chosen her. She cannot do anything- say nothing without the power of the Holy Spirit. To bare fruit for the glory of God she humbles herself so much so that the Spirit God operates through her effortlessly. She subjects her will to the obedience of the authority of the Christ. She never considers herself to be wise in her own eyes. Pride is her enemy, humility is her dressing.

4. An available woman: She is never busy TO the Lord, infact she is busy WITH the Lord. Her life is disciplined and shaped in such a way that her relationship with God directs every responsibility/task of her life. She makes sure that she is well tuned with the Most High, in order to be well tuned with every single detail of her daily routine, activities and the deals of the day. She sets her time for God and is available to Him without fail.

5. A praising woman: When God puts challenging circumstances in her life, she is able to worship God and not whine. God takes you through certain tests in your life, to test if you get closer to Him or run away from Him. A woman who is called will look at God and take courage to stand up and wage war against the unexpected through the powerful tools of praise, God’s word & prayer turning every adversary as a blessing for her. She knows that she has to reject the negatives and through praise & thanksgiving allow God to release the power to work on her behalf!

6. A woman of word– She hides the word in her heart and abides in it all the days of her life. Her prayers, her responses, her words are saturated with God’s way of thinking. She is certainly a woman of wisdom able to tackle and address the concerns and issues around her with practical solutions from the Word of God.

7. A wounded woman– A woman who has allowed the sorrows, pain and the brokenness to mold her more and more into the image of her Saviour. The heart breaking & painful lessons of the world would not have hardened her heart against God but instead melted her heart to lean and depend on her Saviour evermore. She is the one who carries the Spirit of intercession, comfort and empathy for others. She is able to show the true love of God to His people and everybody around her. A woman with a broken heart indeed is a richly blessed one!

If only the women could reject the spirit of the world and pick up this model, the Church could meet with her glory much earlier than we anticipate. My dear sisters and the women of God, you are called with a holy calling. May your hearts be opened to perceive the glory of your calling. Walk worthy as per your calling and find yourself to be a mighty tool in the hands of God to defeat the kingdom of Satan in your family & in the church through your faithful ministry.

God Bless You.
– Sis. Shruti P Vottepu

I found the “Refuge of the Lord” to be a place where your storms are calmed, your tears are wiped, peace is outpoured and your questions meet with their answers. Your wandering thoughts are now asleep and the love of God takes complete control. It’s the fort where distress & worries are replaced with joy unexplainable. It’s the stronghold where beauty surrounds you and mercy comforts you. It’s a strong tower, staying where the enemy cannot smell you nor the world touch you. It’s a place where you meet with the lover of your soul and commune with Him face to face, without a single disturbance. It’s a place of rest that nothing in the world could ever ever give you & yes, it is the safest place that ever exists!

It was from that height, the Lord revealed to me what was happening on the earth beneath. I saw, there is a world which is more real than that which meets our eyes. There is an active, very active spiritual world all around us. There are both angels of God and the demonic angels in constant war with each other, yet invisible to us. One thing I noticed is, everything that happens in the natural realm is nothing but the consequence of the war that is happening in the spiritual realm between the angels & the demons. And you would be astonished to know this – Do you know who determines the victory in this battle? Neither the angelic hosts nor the evil spirits, it is you & me!! Yes, you got me right, the one to whom we offer our support wins the battle! The one on whom we fix our eyes – draws more power from us. The more you fix your mind upon the problem, the greater your enemy becomes & the weaker you become. On contrary, the more you fix your focus on the Lord & His word & act on it, the easier it becomes for our ministering angels to defeat the enemy.

They fight, for a common thing! That’s your – faith, your confidence, your trust, your time! Yes, your faith in God’s word can change the total atmosphere around you, your trust & obedience towards God’s word makes the satanic kingdom tremble & fear you. Inversely, doubt & unbelief disarms the angels of God around you. Startling isn’t it? But most of us are unaware of this. Instead of identifying that our enemy is in the spiritual realm, we battle with the things, the situations and the people in the natural realm. Understand my dear friends, as long as we try to fix our problems in natural realm, we remain unsuccessful. The real battle is in the mind. That’s why our Lord says- set your minds on things above & not on the things below. Irrespective of what happens around you, when you fix your mind on our Problem Solver- Jesus, than on the problem itself – you open the gates to supernatural in your life. Yes, it does work out my dear friends, infact it works out only this way. Fix it in spiritual realm and you will watch the results in the natural.

Broken? Destitute? Hopeless? Abandoned? Is everything broke around you, has everyone given up on you? Don’t know from where your help is going to come? Listen to me my dear ones, there is only one way out of all this. Didn’t Lord part the red sea before Israelites, didn’t He provide for 5000 & plus from the very little, didn’t He kill goliath with a stone’s hit, didn’t he confuse the enemy’s camp with a single sound of trumpet? It is all the work of the Father seated on the throne and not ours in the natural realm. We just have to believe in Him & watch Him change the scene for His glory.  And all this is possible only when you enter the refuge of the Most high, from where you get the heaven’s eyes to see and make way for the supernatural breaking through your natural situations.

So, I invite you my dear friends, from the place where I am abiding right now, in Christ Jesus. From the place where I see my dad resting in great joy with my Lord, from where I watch my mom protected in the blood of Christ, from where I see the glory that is going to be outpoured upon us, from where I defeat & destroy every work of the enemy ever devised against us, in Christ Jesus. Come here, my dear ones, to the refuge of the Lord, to the stronghold which is prepared for you in the times of the trouble, to the rock which will never fail you. This is not a means of escaping or avoiding the trouble ahead of you, this is a means of surrendering the problem to the Lord & letting heaven’s power into that situation, to get victory over it! Run up here and you shall be safe.

These songs that you are going to listen through our New album-“Naa Aasshrayam Neevey”, are the spiritual ladders which helped me climb the steps of surrendarance, faith, hope and love & brought me to the place of refuge & rest in Christ Jesus. The more I ascended, the less concerned I became about the world around me. And I witnessed these songs, crave a secret path to the place of shelter in my Lord, from where came all the help that I ever needed. Now, I release these musical weapons into your lives, declare them to defeat the enemy’s work in your life. Immerse yourself in them & find yourself in the journey with Holy Spirit God to the most beautiful place that exists for you – the refuge of the Lord!

This state of a believer which totally distorts his/her personal relationship with God is the consequence of the ‘world’ sinking into the nature of the man. Worldliness in the soul is as dangerous as cancer in the body. And once injected, this multiplies into huge tumours corrupting the mind of the victim, damaging or utterly destroying the spiritual progress of the soul. After it reaches a matured state, it becomes very difficult for the victim to release himself from the clutches of it by any human effort.

In Short, worldliness is spiritual immaturity (1 Corinth 3:1-3); It is enmity with God (James 4:4); It is the mind governed by the flesh, which is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so (Rom 8:7); It is carnality or the desires for pleasure that wars within our members (James 4:1). Failure to overcome worldliness drags the victim to the fire of hell.

Pathetic is the state of the believer who is caught up in this, yet there is a way out for those who earnestly want to break-free from this bondage. Bible has a perfect cure for this deadly soul disease revealed in James 4: 7-10. If you are caught up in this peril, don’t fail to follow the following steps leading you to a place of absolute victory over the enemy.

1. Submit to God: James clearly states that the war within our members is because of our desires for pleasures against the word of God (James 4:1). It is our own desire which entices us and draws us away to tempt us giving birth to sin (James 1:14-15). The solution for this is to faithfully address those desires which are making you to lust against the Spirit and bring them under subjection of the Spirit God to obey Him. If they cry out to you to pull you down, you cry out to God for help against them. On doing so you do not let the sin reign in your mortal body, thus destroying the dominion of sin in you by the grace of God (Rom 6:12-14).
2. Resist the devil: Even after you committing it to God’s hands, the devil will make faithful attempts to entice you again. Remember then, that the devil is purely lying to you and you must adamantly reject his plea and hold on to your faith. The temptation would be but for a moment after which will either be freedom on resisting the devil or a greater fall than earlier on yielding to the temptation. Be strong during that short period of test & resist the devil, he will flee from you (He can’t afford to waste his time on you beyond that. You see he has only one third of angels on his side).
3. Draw near to God: You have cleaned the wound & plastered it too but now it must heal and this healing of the soul would happen only in God’s presence. As you draw near to God & fellowship with Him, God restores your soul with all that was stolen – a burning heart, passionate soul, the mind of Christ by the power of His Spirit. He shall draw you into a gradual bonding with Him by giving you a brand new start from where you had fallen and further shields you from the future attacks of the enemy.
4. Cleanse your hands: Repent for all that has happened and let the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse you as if you had never ever sinned. Be transformed in mind & Spirit. Let all the works of your hand be sanctified such that you bare the fruit of righteousness in all that you do. Could be your daily chores or your corporate life, do everything such that the name of the Lord will be glorified through all. Let nothing be done out of hypocrisy, greed, carnality or self-seeking. Let your conduct be good such that your faith is justified by works (James 2:24).
5. Purify your hearts: Flush out all the dirt from your heart. Don’t let the dirt of bitterness, envy, strife, jealously etc that the enemy had deposited get accumulated in your heart. At the earliest you must wash them off & save your heart from being rotten with them. Secondly, Do not doubt (For those who doubt do not receive anything from the Lord- James 1:7), God does not want you to be double minded about Him. Trust God and continue to do good, for you will be rewarded in the due time. Guard your faith well, because that’s the favourite point of attack of our enemy.
6. Lament, mourn and weep: Let your soul now be deprived for all those luxuries it once fed upon. If it mourns, let it mourn. This deprivation process in very necessary, for it is through this that we learn to discipline ourselves to obey our Lord. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening–it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way (Heb 12:11). Let your laughter be turned to mourning till you receive a fresh touch from the Lord. Develop a broken & a contrite spirit for the Lord. For a slothful, lavish spirit is a grief to the Father but a contrite spirit – brings great glory of His name.
7. Humble yourselves: How was the last time you humbled yourself before your parents when you didn’t fare well in the exams? How did you humble yourself before your boss, to get that promotion for yourself? How did you humble yourself before that Man of God, when you were in desperate need of prayers? Yes, like that & much more than that, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Go to the Lord with fasting & a contrite spirit. Kneel straight before Him. Don’t pity your flesh but with everything call upon the name of the Lord.

 And with the end of all this, Lord promises to do something for you! Yes, there is a SURE PROMISE awaiting to be fulfilled for you. James 4:10 says, after all the purging, cleaning & pruning process, God has determined to NOW, lift you up in the sight of all! What a joy it is to witness the heaven invading your heart, when the joy of the Lord becomes your strength and when you arise as a living testimony among the rest and bring glory to His name! Truly as Paul said in 2 Corin 4:17, the suffering could be but for a moment, but the weight of glory that would be revealed through you would be way beyond any comparison.

Press on to this call me dear friends. Don’t let the world paralyze your walk with God. Remember this scripture always- For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. – 1 John 2:16-17

Don’t let the enemy fool you again.
You will not fail. You are purposed to be a great blessing.

-Much love!
Sis. Shruti P Vottepu

Here are few unique attributes of the faith of Abraham which makes it stand out and fetches him the righteousness & the promise of God in his life:

1. In hope he believed against hope
   Romans 4:18- “Contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken,..”

Here, we see there are two types of hope.

• A hope which is coming out of human reasoning, out of our anticipations keeping in view the present circumstances. This hope says that there is no hope at all. This is a negative expectation birthed out of focus on worldly situations/ problems.
• A hope which comes from the promise that God has given you. On knowing or remembering this promise, you tend to expect positively. This is the hope which comes from the Lord.

Here we must notice, Abraham chose to rely on the hope which comes from the Lord and not on the hope which resulted out of the world. He hoped in the fulfilment of the promises given to him against the hope (negative expectation) which arised out of human reasoning that he and Sarah were too old to bear fruit anymore.

Take away: We also, like Abraham must not at all lay our faith in the negative expectations. Like him, we must stubbornly oppose the human reasoning and the negative expectations arising from it. That’s one of major weapons of the enemy with which he tries to defeat us. But Abraham failed to be defeated, he plainly put aside all those reasoning and against the worldly hope, hoped in the Lord.

2. He did not change his decision of standing in faith, inspite of the negative situations around him. Romans 4:19- “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead..”

Many times, we take a certain decision and if we see that the situations are not favouring or opposing our decision, we tend to give up and change our direction. But, Abraham was not like that. Around him were situations which screamed out to him saying it is impossible to see the promise being fulfilled, but he did not allow his faith to be weakened even a little because of those reasons. Abraham’s body was totally against the fulfilment of the promise. It was dead. Practically, it was an impossible situation but Abraham never considered or never bothered about the degree of impossibility. He gave a total deaf ear to them because he blindly trusted the God who promised Him.

Take away: There could be many things around you as well, which may cry out to you, saying that it is impossible thing to receive from the Lord. All that you have to do is – give a deaf ear to them. You know in what to lay your hope, hope in that and don’t let all these impossibilities even deter or weaken your faith in God. Show blind faith in God, like Abraham.

3. He sealed his heart against all unbelief & confusion. 
   Romans 4:20- “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief”

No unbelief or distrust made him question or doubt God concerning the promise He gave to Abraham. Unbelief is a sin, which enters the moment we focus away from God. And Abraham was wise enough to protect himself from the sting of unbelief. Here, it must be observed that Abraham never lost track of continually knowing who God was. Before his eyes, was fixed the great and faithful image of God. He knew God so well that he had 100% confidence that the God who promised him, can never break the promise. As you know a person deeply, you tend to become more or less confident of whether he would be able to complete the given job. So, it is with God, the more you know Him, the lesser we tend to doubt Him. In this way, Abraham protected himself against all unbelief & distrust which could make him doubt God.

Take away: The key is the fellowship of God. The strength of your faith lies in the revelation of God you have. The more you know God personally, the less you would believe the enemy. The more you understand God & His ways, the clearer it becomes for you to identify and understand the deceptions and the tricks of Satan.  Immunity to the weapon of unbelief can be achieved solely by strengthening your relationship with God.

4. He became more confident in His approach & stood taller in his faith.
   Romans 4:20- “He was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God”

Abraham obeyed, acknowledged, thanked and did the will of God in the all the things he was told to (or he knew, he must do.) On doing this, he glorified God and God inturn filled Abraham with confidence that – what he was hoping for was right and that it would be surely fulfilled.

Take away: Many a times, we tend to sin against God and fail to obey Him in small things. That’s when we fail to give glory to God. As a consequence of which, guilt fills our heart which inturn brings fear in our mind that what we are asking for is wrong or we don’t deserve to receive from the Lord anymore. Instead of getting the confidence, we develop more fear in our hearts because we have drifted away from the Lord in our ways. So, start obeying and walking in the ways of God like Abraham. Then, God is going to fill you with the confidence to march forward – without which your faith cannot bring glory to God & neither can please Him.

5. Being fully convinced, Abraham already received the fulfilled promise in his heart.
   Romans 4:21- “and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform”

In God’s sight – the end result is not the fulfilment of the promise but to see His children becoming matured in faith towards Him. When we see the fulfilled promise with our eyes of faith (even before it physically happens), we then reach our maturity in faith fulfilling the ultimate purpose of God for us.On doing all the four previously mentioned points, Abraham gets 100% assurance, hope, joy and confirmation that the promise would be fulfilled not because he did something worthy but he knew that as he followed the steps of the Lord, he received the revelation of who God was. And, in this revelation was hidden the sure ability of God to keep His promise – no matter what happens.

Take away: The area of lack in your life, where you need to show faith like Abraham- is purposed by God for a greater reason. It is not just to take you closer to your miracle but to strengthen/ prepare you for a closer walk with God. So, the key is – to focus on the things of the Spirit & not on the things of the earth or your earthly matter of concern. When you do so, you let your inner man grow and thus reach your maturity in Spirit more quickly. And once that is achieved you would be clearly able to sense that your faith has already done the job!

That’s the way Abraham walked to receive from the Lord and that’s the way we are all called to do too. For the scripture guarantees- “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham..” – Romans 4: 16

Amen.

God Bless You.
-Sis. Shruti

One early morning, in a dream Lord showed me how His will is revealed to us in our lives. In this dream, I was a heavenly citizen and was amidst the vast groups of angels who were our spectators from above. They all were very anxiously & keenly watching on how we believers behave during our earthly stay. Many of us were messed up with our present lives and were crying unto the Lord to reveal our future to us. Many were living an ignorant lifestyle but were sincerely concerned to do God’s will when it came to the primary aspects of their life. They were faithfully looking upto heaven’s help. And to my surprise, I saw these heavenly beings, the angels, the elders crying out to them saying- “Do the will of God for today & each day and you will find God’s will done for your lifetime!” They were undoubtedly saying- “Your future is comprised of your present, fail not in your present, lest you fail in your future!” I could very well feel the urgency with which they wanted to convey this matter to us. They knew that the time is very less & we are to perform within that. But I could see the people below were too occupied in their own lifestyle that they were ignorant to do what is already known. I asked them, “Why is it so?” They replied saying- “It is the deception of the enemy with which he manages to blind the believers in their daily walk with God!” I was awestruck, I enquired- “What is the solution?”, a voice screamed out repeatedly-“Set your mind on heaven! Time is limited, set your mind on heaven” and I woke up to a great conviction in my Spirit.

My dear readers, this is where most of us have mistaken in seeking God’s plan for our lives. Scriptures say that God has planned every detail of our life even before we came into existence (Ps 139:16). Then why isn’t it revealed to us accordingly? Simply, because we are too ignorant in our present. We tend to live our daily lives in our own way, plan our activities as per our comfort, decide whom to hang out with according to our desire, invest where we think is profitable to us as per our own wisdom, drop in wherever we want, satisfy every need of our flesh & after doing all, we manage to take few minutes of our time & cry out to heaven saying,-“Lord! Reveal to me, whom I should marry? Tell me how have you planned my career? Will my business fetch me good profits on & on…” It was to such on earth that the heaven was crying out & saying- “Children of God, you just missed to do God’s will for this day! You have just messed up with a part of your future, by ignoring your present! Wake up.”

That’s the reality my dear friends. God doesn’t drop in a blue print for your life in a dream or send a prophet your way & make Him prophecy your entire future for your ease. It doesn’t work like that. He reveals His plan to you with every passing day. Gradually He reveals His will, obeying to which you end up fulfilling His master plan through your lives. For example, while you are driving through a dark valley in the middle of the night. Your head lights would show you only 10- 12 feet ahead of you and not beyond that, as you cover that 10 feet, the road would be clear for the next 10 feet. So with the available light, you would be guided safely till your destination. Even so in our lives, God promises us a great future and then leads us through the path of wilderness to perfect us so that we will be in a position to receive God’s promised blessings. But if we fail to obey His plan in small things, we miss out the big from Him. If God has told you something to do, or something not to do, please obey him in that and you will get further light as you advance.

Noah was ordered much in advance to build an ark and was given every detail required to complete it (Gen 6: 14-21). Had Noah failed in building it on daily basis, he would have missed out God’s will in future. Joseph was falsely imprisoned but for a purpose which God alone knew. Bible says that even in the prison Joseph brought glory to God in doing the work allotted to him (Gen 39: 22-23). Had he instead allowed himself to feed on self-pity & reject doing God’s will in the prison, he would not have been recognized before the king in the due time. Similarly, Abraham believed God’s promise & brought glory to Him in His daily walk with God (Rom 4:20). David deeply communed with God while he was a shepherd boy before he could become a king. All these people believed God in what was promised to them & they day after day, showed their faith in action & in turn perceived & attained God’s will in their life.

And so it is in our lives too. God has promised to bless us & keep us in all our ways. He has promised to be a faithful Father unto us (Matt 7:11). He has promised to provide for every need of ours such that our joy would be made whole in Him (John 15:11). This is God’s will for us but to attain it also He has given a set of instruction to follow through our daily life. Like Noah, Abraham & the other men of God we are called to find out God’s will for this day, keep His word and walk in the daily sufficient grace for us.

This is God’s will for you – that you walk according to what is revealed to you clearly through the scriptures for THIS day.
His word reveals that we are to keep ourselves from being unspotted from the world (James 1:27), we are to speak the truth (Eph 4:15), we are supposed to produce the fruits of the Spirit in our daily lives (Eph 5:8-9),  we are to give thanks in all circumstances (1 The 5:18), we are to pray at all times (1 The 5:17), whether we eat or drink, we are to do it for the glory to God (1 Corin 10:31), we are asked not be anxious in anything (Phi 4:6), we have to walk (daily) as through we are worthy to His calling (Eph 4:1). Like this, God in His word has given every detail of how we are to carry ourselves in our daily walk. If anything in our lives is misleading us from God’s word or is not allowing us to keep the least of the commandments of God in that situation/ day/ or our life, then we must understand that – that thing is not God’s will in our life. Only when we keep His word day after day, we move closer to His divine will for us. We can’t receive big from the Lord when we utterly fail to be faithful in the little we have.

And that’s what the heaven is screaming out to us every day- “Do the will of God for today & each day and you will find the God’s will done for your lifetime!” The puzzle of life is seldom solved if you keep messing with it on daily basis. And that’s the very task of the enemy, to make you ignorant of your present so that you would miss out the best of God in your future. But thanks be to our Lord, for His grace abounds much more than our sins (Rom 5:20). While by His grace our failures can’t disturb our future with our God but they can certainly distort us during our earthly stay. Set your mind on things above (Col 3:2), let you be directed by heaven each & every day. Then, you will undoubtedly find yourself in the centre of God’s will.

Start doing God’s will from today! Commit to Lord saying, you would not be ignorant about your present but seek God’s will and do it in every detail of your life. And that you would walk in His ways, day after day, and show love to Him with all your heart, mind & strength thus anchoring yourself to the perfect will of the Father in your life.

God Bless You.
-Sis. Shruti