Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI)

Stillness of the Night

2012-01-31T15:47:00.000+04:00

In the stillness of the night
As I lay in bed and try to sleep
I remember how I blew the fight
And all Your commands I didn’t keep

I tried, O God, I tried
To strengthen my soul against the dark
I felt so confident that I would abide…
But when temptation came, I had missed Your mark

But then as I slept that night
You came to me in a dream
You said to me, “Try as you may, try as you might,
You will fail, despite what it may seem,

It is not your job to see you through,
It is not your job to feel strong
I just want one thing for you to do:
Give Me what you tried to do all along”

So that morning as I awoke
And I knew my sleep was worth its while
For as I remembered the words that You spoke
I gave to You my temptions and my trials

I finally admitted I was too weak
To face the day without making a mistake
So to You I lay my life so meek
And I asked You that me You would not forsake

Day by day you guide me on
And my strength I get from You alone
All my battles have been won
For in Your strength I have been sewn

by Geoff Lemke
Used with Permission

Fighting fear.

2012-01-26T13:58:00.001+04:00

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

-John 14: 27

As I was browsing the internet today, I came across a an article, "Let's Stop Scaring Ourselves" by Michael Crichton. Funny because he wrote Jurassic Park and some other "scary" book.

Apparently fear abounds in the world today, but as Christians we are to be freed from the bondage's of the fear that drives unbelievers. In fact, we can be free to share with unbelievers the freedom of Jesus, whether they threaten us or not. Paul said to live is Christ and to die is gain. Either way, as Christians we win! So what is there to fear really but fear itself.

Fill in the blank here: the opposite of love is? What did you answer? Did you answer hate?

If you answered hate, you'd be wrong. The opposite of love is fear not hate, although hate is a part of fear. The opposite of faith is fear also. If we have fear our faith and love are greatly lacking. You see God gives us the love we have. It doesn't just manifest out of nowhere, God is infusing us with His love in order that we might love others as an extension of His love and grace.

When we fear, we are playing right into the devil's hands. He wants us afraid and focused on anything but the love and grace of God.God does not want us to live our lives stricken with fear because then we are not living in faith. Fear affects us in so many ways, including physically. Fear begins when we buy into the lie. That's what the enemy wants - for us to buy into the lie.

I don't know what is going on in each of your lives as you sit and read this today but I can tell you what I've gone through recently. It rather tickles me when people tell me when people use ones past as a reason to pull you down and hinder your present. Well, I recently have grown a bit tired and yes, a bit frustrated. I've never been a patient person. Positionally I'm in a great place but the waiting is agony! I got rather down.When I get like that, I've learned to always go to my knees. What comes after is the "wrestle" in prayer- wanting to understand, wanting to fulfill God's purpose in my life.. NOW, lol! He just pats me on the head in His loving way and says, "Kid, just wait upon Me. My timing is perfect. Don't fret, don't fear."

Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." John 14: 1, NIV.

When we fear brethren, it will result in our disobedience to God. God wants us to step out in faith and He will give the victory unto us for the glory of His name. If we don't take that step though, we are not obeying Him. Our fear is hindering us which means that the paralysis of fear is equal to unbelief, not trusting God to fulfill His promises and that my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is sin.

Fear can lead us down a road of compromise, not allowing God to work in our lives. We can imagine all sorts of things going wrong, fear starts to reside, and then our imaginations run rampant causing ultimately our disobedience to God, resulting in sin.

But how do we face our fears??

We face our fears by seeking the Savior, Jesus. "You will keep in perfect peace him who mind is steadfast, because he trusts you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal."-Isaiah 26: 3 - 4.

We fight fear with fear. Huh? We fight this earthly fear with the fear of God.

Remember the fear of the Lord leads to life. The Bible tells us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. If you've ever read through the Book of Proverbs you'll see this constantly stated. Does it mean to tremble and go ill with fear? No, absolutely not. The word fear here means, to stand in awe of, in reverential respect and awe of our God. To know that He is in control of all things. If we die, we are with Him, if we live we are living out our lives for His good will and purpose.

Like our pastor said this morning, we know the end of the movie. God gave us the final chapter in human history. We know how this world ends. We have nothing to fear if we are His. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus IS the truth and He IS the way. He IS eternal life. Satan is ever prosecuting us to God but because of the blood of Jesus, we can stand without fear of the eternal judgement of God. God provided us the way to eternal life with Him through His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

We need not fear if we've recognized our need for a Savior, repented of our sin and relinquished our lives to Him. We don't need to stay in fear. Fall back on the truths of Jesus, and know that He dealt with death and sin on the cross at Calvary over 2000 years ago.

Are you facing fear today? Perhaps you are afraid of losing your job, of developing cancer or being left by your spouse. At times all of us experience fear. But don't allow fear to keep you from being used by God. He has kept you thus far; trust Him for the rest of the way.

No fear.

Investing your money in God’s Kingdom – Experiencing the joy of giving.

2012-01-25T11:05:00.000+04:00

Obedience, along with faith and trust is the essential ingredient of Christian living. Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” -John 14:21

We know that Jesus gave us many commands to help us live holy lives. All the commands direct us toward God and toward neighbor. One such command is found in Luke 6:38 where Jesus says, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Now this particular command Jesus does not specify what we are to give, but when we give, it promises that it will be returned to us in a cup that is running over. Personally, I am glad Jesus does not specify exactly what we are to give because this works to our advantage. Here is how. Anything we give is multiplied and returned back to us. If we give our money, money is multiplied. If we give our time, our time is multiplied. If we give our talents, our talents are multiplied. If we give our love, love within us is multiplied so we have an ever greater capacity to love. I have been blessed to have been given an opportunity in the last few years to give of all the four: Money, Time, Talent and Love. But the one that I have been giving the longest is money, so I want to talk about that.

I started to give a tenth of my income to God’s work seven years ago at a time I was in a severe financial crisis. I was debt ridden. I had no savings and owned no property. On top of this I had financial obligations that had to be paid out in US dollars. The first few months of tithing were very hard. I was tempted often to stop or reduce the percentage. A tenth of my salary amounted to a healthy sum. I would be tempted to visualize all the ways in which I could spend that 10% to alleviate my financial situation. But I resisted the temptation I faithfully gave: a portion to the church where I received my sacraments, a portion to my prayer group that was helping me grow spiritually, a portion to missions abroad, and a portion for spontaneous charity towards individuals I knew were in need.

In these seven years of faithful giving of a tenth of my income, I can testify that God has been faithful to his promises, in both, Malachi 3:10-12 which says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” and also Luke 6:38 “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Since I came to Dubai in 2004, I have never been without a job except once for a brief period six months during which time God provided for all my needs. My income has steadily increased and my lifestyle has improved along with it. I have never had a health problem except for an occasional cold or flu and an intermittent backache which is more than manageable. And because God knew I could not manage my finances, two years ago He brought into my life a life partner, who unlike me, is excellent at managing finances. She put my financial house in order in no time and supported my practice of tithing. I also experienced a complete sense of financial security which comes from knowing that a portion of my income was regularly supporting God’s work here on earth. If my income is affected, God’s work is affected. It is in God’s interest to help me maintain my income.

Let’s just say for instance that I am sponsoring a seminarian for priesthood or paying fees for a disabled person to stay in a care home. If I lose my income, God has to find an alternate means to take care of them. And this world, there is shortage of givers. So the more I invest in God’s work, the more secure my income.

Now these are only the material benefits of tithing. There are others benefits as well. God has made it easier for me to trust in Him for my provisions. I feel less attached to money or possessions than I used to before I began to tithe. It is easier for me to give. The grip on money and material possessions has been loosened. I worry less about these things which gives me more peace. But even more importantly are the benefits I am accruing in heaven. For every penny that I give to God, he is crediting to my account with a hundred fold interest in heaven, where “neither moth destroys nor thieves break in and steal”- Matthew 6:19-21

Now you might say that all of this sounds very selfish and business like. I give just so I may receive even more. In some ways, it is that. But over time my attitude towards giving has changed. I no longer give because I will receive a hundred fold in return. I now give simply out of love for Jesus, because it gives me immense joy to please him and to obey his commands. Initially, I started giving for ME, but I now I give for Jesus. Even if he did not bless me (which would not happen as He will not go against His word), I will still continue to give because of the joy it brings me.

If you are struggling financially, especially if you have a job but you find that your money simply vanishes at the end of the month, start giving to God and see the miracle. If you are doing well financially but find yourself unhappy or unable to put that wealth to good use, start giving some of it back to God (it all belongs to Him in the first place) and see the miracles that will take place in your life. He will bless you in both cash and kind. Both in this world and the world to come.

Jaime DeMelo
HSI Media

The Importance of Family Prayer

2012-01-23T08:35:00.000+04:00

Matthew 18:20 Jesus says “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

The importance of family prayer was taught by Our Lord himself. What a pleasing sight it must be to God, therefore, to see the family unit - Father, Mother & Children which He ordained, gathered together as one to worship Him.

God our Father wants us to have strong, loving, tight knit families and he has given us a way to achieve it: family prayer. All of us, single or married, whatever age we are, are eternally part of some family and much of our joy in life comes as we recognize and properly develop those family relationships with our close family as well our extended family. There is real power in family prayer. Without doubt families can be brought together and can help and strengthen one another through family prayer.

We come to this earth charged with a mission: to learn to love and serve one another. To best help us accomplish this, God has placed us in families, as we learn to love, serve and sacrifice at home- after all charity begins at home. Home is our first classroom, our learning ground for life where we need to learn to overcome selfishness, pride and to sacrifice for others beginning with our family, to make the Fruit of the Holy spirit the very essence of our character. This is all possible when we all pray together as one family.

Friends and neighbors come and go but family is forever, and as we learn this, we find that we are eternally our brother’s keeper! The bonds that develop when a family meaningfully prays for each other, with each other together can never be developed through any other means. We should thus praise and thank God for the opportunity of family prayer.

CCC 2685 states: The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the "domestic church" where God's children learn to pray "as the Church" and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church's living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit.

This is precisely why the Church has always and continually promoted family and prayer and even dedicated the year of 2009 as the Year of the Family.

Pope Benedict XVI himself says “ Prayer itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation , strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call."

Blessed Mother Teresa said it is necessary that families pray all together - father, mother and children. For the family that prays together stays together, and if they stay together they will love one another as Jesus loves each one of them. The presence of Jesus is a source of blessing to the home where parents and children unite to offer up prayer in common. The spirit of piety which this custom develops sanctifies the bonds of family love.

There are various methods of family prayer. A custom of some homes consists of the rosary followed by reading of the Bible. Prayers are said before and after the reading, and a discussion of the particular passages read. Another worth-while custom is the reading of the Gospel and Epistle for the particular Mass of the day and some even sing hymns of Praise. Bottom line is that the usage of the time by the family to fervently pray for one another and thus, in righteousness, feel the needs of others and then fills those needs.

Also every member of the family will have a greater feeling of participation in the Rosary if a different person leads the prayer every day. Children more preferably should be made to lead the rosary and the bible reading as well. They should be taught to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary so that they do not say the prayers without thinking.

I know of no single activity that has more potential for unifying our families, removing misunderstandings, bringing love, forgiveness and divine direction into homes than consistent, fervent family prayer. Of course, our prayers must be more than words, for the value of our prayers, depends on how we care for one another. With increased love and understanding

If we show our Father on a regular basis through prayer how much we love him , how much we appreciate him, how much we need his help, and how much we rely on His protection, there will be tremendous transformation in all our lives , we receive his blessings or he gives us the strength to bear what we are going through . Therefore Don’t let anything stand in the way of consistent, fervent family prayer!.

Organize your priorities so that God is first in your lives and to show this by having regular family prayer. There may be exceptional circumstances occasionally; but as a rule, family prayer is a must every day. Family unity in prayer can also be achieved if the family attends Mass together. The Eucharist is undoubtedly the greatest prayer and worship!! One of the most inspiring memories I have is that of going for Sunday Mass with my Mum, Dad and sister and then returning home for a delicious breakfast!!

There is no doubt that there is great power in loving, consistent, fervent family prayer. Don’t deny your families this blessing. Don’t allow the strength that comes from family prayer to slip away from you and your loved ones through neglect. No matter what other inheritance you leave your family, give them the inheritance of knowing that, forever, you will be praying for them and they for you.

Sunith D'souza
HSI Media

Broken Hurts

2012-01-20T18:25:00.000+04:00

One day I dug a little hole and put my hurt inside.
I thought that I could just forget
I'd put it there to hide.

But that little hurt began to grow.
I covered it every day.
I couldn't leave it and go on; it seemed the price I had to pay.

My joy was gone, my heart was sad, pain was all I knew.
My wounded soul enveloped me; loving seemed too hard to do.

One day, while standing by my hole,
I cried to God above and said, “If You are really there--They say You're a God of love!”

And just like that He was right there.
And just put His arms around me.
He wiped my tears, His hurting child.
There was no safer place to be.

I told Him all about my hurt; I opened up my heart.
He listened to each and every word, to every sordid part.

I dug down deep and got my hurt;
I brushed the dirt away and placed it in the Master's hand,
And healing came that day.

He took the blackness of my soul and set my spirit free.
Something beautiful began to grow where the hurt used to be.

And when I look at what has grown out of my tears and pain,
I remember to give my hurts to Him
and never bury them again.

--Carol Parrott

This is a beautiful poem I once found in a time of deep distress
It takes divine, supernatural grace to forgive and to let God heal us when we're hurt. Our human tendencies to take things into our own hands make us WANT to punish the offending person or to at least make them feel what they've done to us, if we've been hurt.

Jesus taught us to pray,"Forgive us as we forgive those who have trespassed against us", and without His help, we can't even PRAY that prayer. But God can give us the grace to not only forgive, but also to forget. To just stay quiet when we would rather yell, to stay peaceful when we wud rather be angry!

Positive Confessions - What I am not!

2012-01-17T13:24:00.000+04:00

I am not sick, for "my Lord healeth me of all my diseases" -Ps. 103:3.

I am not bound, for "the Son has made me free" -Jn. 8:36.

I am not defeated, for "I'm more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me" -Rom. 8:37.

I am not weak, for "the Lord will give strength unto His people" -Ps.29: 11.

I am not without power, for "ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" -Acts 1:8.

I am not without peace, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" -Rom. 5:1.

I am not lacking any good thing, for "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly" -Ps. 84:11.

I am not overtaken by any evil work, for "the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work" -2Tim.4: 18.

I am not afraid of any plague, for "there shall be no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling" -Ps. 91:10.

I am not running from the devil, for I am "resisting the devil, and he is fleeing from me" -Js. 4:7.

I am not without daily quickening, for "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you"-Rom. 8:11.

I am not shackled by sin, demons or fear; "thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee" -Dan. 6:16.

I am not in a losing battle, "the Lord shall fight for me, and I shall hold my peace" -Ex. 14:14.

I am not without joy; "His joy shall be in me, and my joy shall be full" -Jn. 15:11.

I shall not fail to see God; "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" -Matt. 5:8.

I am not oppressed by cares, difficulties and troubles; I am "casting all my cares upon Him, for He careth for me" -1 Pt. 5:7.

Better Broken: The Plan

2012-01-15T12:03:00.000+04:00

"You've gotta be kiddin' me!"

That had to be the comment made by angels when Jesus returned to heaven. He was leaving the start of his church, the expansion of the reign of God on earth, and the spread of the good news of Jesus to the whole world to them — to that group of men and women he left behind staring into the sky (Acts 1:1-11).

Sure, he had left them with a PURPOSE for their future ministry:

"... you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

But, let's be realistic. Do you see any world-changers in this little group? Peter denied the Lord three times and the other apostles ran off and abandoned their Lord in his worst moment — and all of this after having been warned repeatedly about what was going to happen. In addition to everything else, this group of misfits is missing one of their own — Judas, who betrayed Jesus. To top it all off, they weren't much to begin with — a bunch of powerless and disrespected folks from despised Galilee!

Yes, they had a PURPOSE: to be Jesus' "witnesses." And if that PURPOSE wasn't a difficult enough challenge, notice the scope of where that purpose was to be accomplished: "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This group of broken failures was going to take Jesus' message to the whole world?

... with no telephones?
... with no mass media?
... with no internet?
... with no car or air travel?

If Jesus hadn't been Lord, already conquered death, and been given all authority in heaven and on earth, his statement about their mission would have been laughable ... more than improbable, these words would have felt like they were impossible!

So Jesus' answer to us about this would probably go something like this:

"Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible" (Matthew 19:26).

We do believe the Lord's words. Yet over time, we've been exhausted and a bit jaded by all the church bumper stickers and slogans and hype. We believe it was possible for them, but not really possible for us, today. Let's be honest, in most of our churches, Bible studies, and homes, we've become like the people of Jesus' hometown. Mark describes it this way:

And because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6).

Yet the real issue isn't that we live so far in time from Jesus' words and true access to God's power. Our PURPOSE, to be witnesses for Jesus, hasn't changed. The issue IS that we haven't committed ourselves — our hearts, our families, our Bible studies, our churches — to the PLAN, PEOPLE, and POWER that enabled them to live out Jesus' mission — the same mission Jesus has for us.

So let's ask a simple question and let Luke answer the question. What was Jesus' plan to help them live out their PURPOSE of being witnesses "to the ends of the earth"?

Luke tells us:

They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers (Acts 1:14).

Luke tells us in his gospel that prayer was the powerful framework of Jesus' ministry, as he often got off alone to pray and be alone with the Father (Luke 5:16). And if we read the book of Acts attentively, we see that prayer was the framework, or the PLAN, that Jesus had for his followers to accomplish their mission.

While prayer does not change things or empower us, prayer does remind us of the One who can change any circumstance and empower His people past any obstacle. So when you join together with other believers and pray, sing, read Scripture, confess that Christ Jesus is Lord, and take communion with those who anticipate the Lord's return, remember that you are participating in the miracle of God doing the impossible through broken, flawed, and everyday people ... just like you and me! Your faith, my faith, is testimony to these flawed and broken people being used by God to accomplish their mission!

by Phil Ware

How to temper steel

2012-01-12T12:29:00.001+04:00

For many years, a blacksmith worked hard and performed many acts of charity; yet despite all his devotion, nothing seemed to go right in his life.

One afternoon, a friend was visiting him was concerned:

‘It really is very strange that despite your firm belief in the spiritual world, nothing in your life has improved.’

The blacksmith answered:

‘The unworked steel arrives in my workshop and I have to make swords out of it. Do you know how that is done? First, I heat the metal until it is red-hot, then I beat it mercilessly with my heaviest hammer until the metal takes on the form I need. Then I plunge it into a bucket of cold water and the whole workshop is filled with the roar of steam, while the metal sizzles and crackles in response to the sudden change in temperature. I have to keep repeating that process until the sword is perfect: once is not enough.’

The blacksmith paused for a long time, then went on:

‘Sometimes the steel I get simply can’t withstand such treatment. The heat, the hammer blows, the cold water cause it to crack. And I know that I will never be able to make it into a good sword blade. Then I throw it on the pile of scrap metal that you saw at the entrance to the workshop.’

‘I know that God is putting me through the fire of afflictions. I have accepted the blows that life deals out to me, and sometimes I feel as cold and indifferent as the water that inflicts such pain on the steel.

“But my one prayer is this: Please, God, do not give up until I have taken on the shape that You wish for me.

“Do this by whatever means You think best, for as long as You like, but never ever throw me on the scrap heap of souls.’

- Paulo Coelho

Suffering tries and tests people, purifies their faith, corrects their flaws, and refines their character. This suffering is an expression of grace and love because once people have come out of the refining fire and accepted correction; they will shine with a tested and confirmed faith and a splendid character. Especially those whom God wishes to entrust with a special responsibility, or who are desirous of reaching the highest goal, will be most severely tested and most thoroughly refined.

See, I have refined you, though not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10)

No one ever asks for tragedy or pain, but we often look back and are thankful for the ways that God uses those situations to shape us. The patience, perspective, and inner strength we receive are blessings that come from the Father through even our worst times. We serve a God who can use our greatest tragedies as tools in his hands. He can use minor discomforts. He can even use painful situations that arise as a result of our sins.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we … are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” You may not realize it - but God has a plan for you. He wants you to become just like Jesus.

He restores my soul!

2012-01-08T18:06:00.000+04:00

It was horrific! They were ripped from their dwellings, forced to travel for months, held as slaves for 70 years, everything about "home" was remembered and some had never seen the places they were told about. Their names were changed, they were expected to eat different foods and told to assimilate into their new surroundings or else!

Then one day, they were allowed to go "home." Just under 50,000 who made the four months' journey wanted to reclaim what they had left.

The story of the Jews returning from Babylonian captivity is found in the first six chapters of Ezra. Those chapters talk about how those returning exiles went to great lengths to restore their place of worship, the Temple; to restore their religious practices, festivals and sacrifices, to restore their relationship to Jehovah God. Ezra, the writer, tells about the almost insurmountable obstacles that cluttered their way and how their determination conquered those barriers. They wanted restoration with God. Being separated from Him by distance, by culture, even by kingly command did not quench that need to be once again close to their God.

And God Almighty has always wanted restoration with his creation. From the time man introduced sin into the world and God asked "where are you?" (Genesis 3:8-11) to the image of Jesus standing at a door knocking, waiting to be let in (Revelation 3:20), God has made it possible for man and woman to be "pure and Holy" again in His sight.

Like the Israelites of old, we too can find ourselves ripped from our homes, forced to go places we don't want and become slaves to our emotions and desires. BUT we can go "home" anytime we choose restoration with our Father.

-

That’s the awesome thing about our heavenly father- we may be confronted, torn, tested and trampled on by many of life’s problems. But nothing is too big for our God to restore. He restores us all the time, and, that is why my friend, you and I are still alive to see another day. In His restoration, is my life and yours too.

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media

The weight of the Old testament.

2012-01-05T12:11:00.000+04:00

One day I asked God why the Old Testament was so much bigger than the New Testament. If the Old Testament could be the same size as the New Testament, I reasoned, the Bible would be easier to carry around, more people would take the time to read it and there would be less scriptures to memorize.

As He usually does when I approach Him with a questions, God smiled. I knew at once that he had a good answer for me, and He spoke.

“You really want to know why the Old Testament is so big? It is because that’s how long it took me to get my message through to my people. To penetrate their hardened hearts, to capture the attention of their distracted and divided minds. It took me thousands of years to teach and re-teach them what they needed to learn. Often I had to take them through bitter experiences to make a simple point. Take for instance my plan to rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Such a simple operation the way I had it planned. If only my people would have cooperated with me, the journey could have been completed in a few weeks. But no, they had to make it painful for themselves and the next generation and drag out the wonderful plans I had for their future in the Promised Land. Think about how many hundreds of pages in the Old Testament that one episode alone could have saved.”

And he continued, “I sent prophets after prophets to correct them and to set them on the right course, but they refused to listen. They never learned a single lesson the easy way. They mistreated the prophets I sent them and even killed some of them. I could have given up on them and ended it all right there and then, and there would be no need for a Bible at all. But I continued to be patient with them for the sake of a few who were faithful and for the great love I had for my people.So you see, I really could have accomplished my plan of salvation in a handful of books, if it wasn’t for the stubbornness of the people I was dealing with. So when you carry the heavy weight of the Bible around, do not blame me, blame the people of the Old Testament. Had they listened and obeyed the first time, the stories and experiences you see repeating over and over in the Old Testament would not have been necessary.”

So at last, I thought to myself, I have the answer and I have someone to blame for the heavy weight of the Bible. It is the fault of those thick headed Israelites. But just as I entertained that thought, the Holy Spirit intervened and posed a question. “Before you judge the Israelites, ask yourself what your own conduct and life was like before you gave your life to Christ about 11 years ago?”. That question stopped me in my tracks. I did a quick recollection and to my utter shock I saw that the Israelite of the Old Testament was only an archetype of my own self. I too had been selfish, stubborn, slow-to-learn, rebellious, sin-loving and unfaithful man. I remembered how many people God sent my way to warn me and correct me but I would not listen. How many adverse situations God allowed me to face and the consequent losses to myself and my loved ones, to the point that one day He decided he had had enough with me and decided to uproot me from the land in which He had settled me for almost 20 years and send me to a distant land called Dubai where I knew nobody. Only then had I finally relented and surrendered completely to his Kingship and Lordship over my life.

The Holy Spirit helped me realize that the “Old Testament” of my own life was just as long and heavy as that of the Bible and I was entirely responsible for the length and weight of it, not any Israelite. If anything, the Israelite's only foreshadowed me and the stories of the Old Testament simply pointed to my own life in the wilderness, yet to unfold in the distant future. I felt ashamed that I even thought of pinning the blame on the Israelites, when the Old Testament represents my own life in the darkness on which Jesus would shine his eternal light.

Now every time I carry the heavy Bible I hold only myself responsible for its length and its weight. The heavy portion - the Old Testament- represents my own rebelliousness and my stubbornness. The light portion - the New Testament- represents God’s salvation and infinite mercy.

Jaime Demelo

HSI Media

How solid are your footprints in the Kingdom of God?

2012-01-03T12:41:00.000+04:00

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam.He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mined and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

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The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

A few weeks ago, Br. Aneel spoke about getting the lost, back to God- if this isnt already on your "priority list", I strongly suggest you add it in.

If God were to judge us by our footprints we leave behind on judgement day, make sure whatever you do this year, leaves solid footmarks into the sand, not for your glory- but for the Glory of God.

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media

Our New Year's Resolution

2011-12-31T16:31:00.000+04:00

This New year, our blog entry is just a few words, which we hope fwill change your life and steer you, perhaps, to try making the same commitment many of us will be making this year.

As we stand on the edge of the New Year, When the ball drops at midnight, millions of us make promises.This year however, no matter what age we are, let's make a commitment that we will never quit growing and reaching toward Jesus. While resolutions may come and go with each New Year, the commitment to grow with Jesus continues right up to the moment we meet him face-to-face.

Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Make this your year. Make this God’s year. It is never too late to get in agreement with your Lord. God will give you the strength you need to follow through. Get in agreement with God and make this year your best ever.Lets use the year 2012 to get right with God..!

We wish you all a very Happy New Year 2012. May the year ahead be very blessed for you all.

Happy New Year 2012!!
HSI Media

God's love can not be earned. It always does, and always WILL exist!

2011-12-29T22:23:00.000+04:00

Sometimes I like talking to the characters in the Bible. To ask them questions. Almost always I get very insightful answers.

Today I was talking to the thief on the right of Jesus on Calvary. I told him how I secretly envied him. That he got away with so much wrongdoing and then got all of his sins forgiven in one shot, at the last minute. I told him how I always felt it was unfair for him to have done so little good in his life and still get into paradise, while I was having to do all of this "good work" to achieve the same end. He did not have to go to church. He did not have to attend any prayer meetings. He did not have to study the Bible or spend time in daily personal prayer or fast or tithe or forgive his enemies. It just didn't seem fair at all I said. I went on for a while, almost sounding like the older brother in the prodigal son story envying his younger brother's conversion and homecoming. He listened patiently, until I had nothing more left to say.

And then he spoke. Jaime, you are foolish to envy me. How so? When I look down at you from heaven, it is I who am filled with envy. That you have a relationship with the Lord. That you can love him and serve him while still on earth. That you can share the good news of the gospel with others. That you can work for his kingdom. I never had the opportunity to do that, because I was lost. I wasted most of my life on worthless things, wrong things that brought me on the verge of physical and spiritual death. If it wasn't for the grace I received at that last moment to acknowledge that I had been wrong about the way I lived and to recognize that the king of the universe was dying next to me so my soul could live for ever, I would have been doomed for eternity.

Now don't get me wrong. I am very happy to be in paradise. Nothing compares to joy of being in heaven. But here in heaven I cannot do what you can do to touch the lives of souls, to bring people to the knowledge of Christ. Don't you see what a gift you have been given to know Christ early in your life? You have an opportunity to do so much good on earth, to be used to bring about his kingdom. You are blessed Jaime. Truly blessed. Don't ever envy me. Enjoy the beautiful relationship you have with the Lord. Grow in his love. Share that love with lost people like me, so they will not end up losing their lives and losing their souls. I am praying for you. Every time you think of me and the Calvary scene, think of how blessed you are for not having had to wait till the hour of your death to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior.

And I need to correct you further. The "good work" you are doing will not earn you a place in heaven. It is Christ's death on the cross that earns you a place in paradise. The work you do for the Lord, you are doing because of the love you have for the Lord. Not to earn your way to heaven. That's what I would have done if I could have survived my crucifixion. Served him all the rest of my life out of pure love for the one that saved me. Happy New Year Jaime.

Jaime DeMelo

HSI Media

Is it really over?

2011-12-27T08:26:00.000+04:00

The disciples had been with Jesus for three years. They had watched Him perform His miracles, witnessed His encounters with the religious leaders, and experienced His kind and compassionate nature. They had asked Him questions and heard His answers. They had seen Him walk on water and disappear into the mountains. They had been shocked when they found Him talking with a woman from Samaria, and perturbed with Him when He took too much time with children.

For three years they dreamed with Him about the coming Kingdom, even though their images of the future were quite different. They had envisioned positions of power and prestige, but He had reminded them that their role should be that of a servant. The disciples had given up their homes, jobs, and ambitions to follow this One who promised to use them to change the world.

Then, as they stood by paralyzed by fear, He was arrested. He was accused of blasphemy. He was tried and convicted. He was beaten and tortured and ridiculed and humiliated. He was crucified. He died. He was buried.

In those quiet difficult moments after His death, surely they struggled with what they had seen, with what they had done, and what they had not done. Questions and doubt must have filled their minds.

"We thought ... "

"What about ... "

"Why ... "

"We expected ... "

"We hoped ... "

"Is it really over?"

"Is it really over?"

Within a few days most of us will see the end of the year .With the turn of a page on the calendar, and the tick of the clock, the old year will be gone and a new year will be ushered in. As the transition takes place some of us will be disappointed with the way things have turned out during the last twelve months. Some will be amazed that the year has gone so rapidly. Some will be filled with regret. Some will be relieved.

"We thought we would have been better off financially."

"We meant to work less and spend more time with our family."

"We intended to get more involved in our church."

"We expected to make more progress on our marriage relationship."

"We hoped ... "

"We wish ... "

"Is it really over?"

There is good news.

As the disciples struggled with their questions, doubts, and regrets they received the greatest news they could have ever imagined. "The tomb is empty! He is alive!"
As we deal with all the things that we should have done, could have done, wish we had done, and ought to have done, the news is also good: "Happy New Year!" We get another chance.
The year has ended, but your life is not over! 2012 is a new year. Make the most of it.

He knew the right gift.

2011-12-22T12:01:00.000+04:00

As Luke tells us the stories involving the birth of Jesus, he wants to evoke the same kind of sensations we feel when we step outside of a hot and suffocating office and into a cold December morning, and drink in a fresh, invigorating, breath of clean air.

At the coming of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God — one of the key promises of the New Covenant — burst on the scene like a breath of fresh air. His presence was everywhere. The Spirit came with power and conceived Jesus in the womb of Mary.

The Spirit was present with John the Baptist from his mother's womb, so John leaped for joy inside his mother's womb when the newly pregnant Mary came to see her. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth affirmed Mary's faith and praised God.
The Spirit broke Gabriel's imposed silence of Zechariah and inspired the old priest's great proclamation of praise and joy.
The Spirit lead, convinced, and inspired Simeon to meet and praise God's Messiah, baby Jesus, in the Temple.
The Spirit came upon Jesus and empowered him for his ministry.

The weather had definitely changed!This Breeze from heaven's grace started everything!

Luke helps us feel the cool breeze of God's refreshing Spirit as He wafts His way through the hearts of God's people. The Old Testament prophets had spoken of this special time: God's Holy Wind, his Powerful Breath, his Comforting Spirit would blow through God's holy people and begin a new day, a new age, and the New Covenant. (The word spirit, breath, and wind are all translated by one key word in both Hebrew and Greek.) Luke wants us to know God's refreshing Breeze has begun to blow!

This Breeze was for all who became children of God (Acts 2:38-39; Acts 5:32; Romans 8:1-16).

This Breath of God was poured out by Jesus upon all who became Christians (Acts 2:33; Titus 3:3-7), born of water and Spirit (Acts 2:38; John 3:3-7). The presence of this Wind insured that everything would be different and refreshingly new (Acts 3:18-19; Acts 5:22). Most importantly, this change in the weather assured us that we could be changed as well
(Acts 2:38-39;Acts 9:17-22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11;1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

So as we gather around and tell stories of baby Jesus, wise men from the East, shepherds in their fields, mean old Herod in his palace, and a long journey for a couple expecting their first baby, let's not forget the weather! You see, God sent one glorious new air mass, pushed through by his mighty, refreshing, and Holy Wind. This Breeze from heaven's grace started the events that gave Mary a baby and changed everything for you and me!

So while Bing Crosby may have dreamed of a white Christmas, God preferred to send his refreshing, mighty, holy Wind, the Breath of Heaven, and brought us new life and fresh hope.

It's almost Christmas Eve. It's almost time. Enjoy the gift.Celebrate the breath of Heaven our loving Father sent us on Christmas.

Communion and Christmas: From the stable.. to the Table

2011-12-15T16:13:00.000+04:00

Thoughts of communion often turn to the physical sufferings of Christ. If you have read or seen one of those physician's account of death by crucifixion, you have heard about the pain and agony.

Of course the spiritual anguish of the cross is real as well. Jesus was not only nailed to the cross, the Holy One took on all our sin. Nailed by our shame, God's crown of glory was replaced by a crown of thorns. And He took all this on by His choice. He said, "This is the kind of God I am. I do this for you, to show you the kind of people you can be."

Which brings us to the Christmas season ... Thoughts of Christmas often focus on the physical settings for the birth of Christ. We love the manger and the shepherds in the field. And rightly so ... Invariably at our Children's Christmas musical a tiny wise man or a funny little guy in a sheep costume will steal the show. We love these images for many reasons. But we do not overlook the spiritual realities of the birth of Christ.

"This is the kind of God I am!"

Read this:

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:26-33).

In other words, "This is the kind of God I am. I do this for you, to show you the kind of people you can be."

This is the message of the manger. It is the crux of the cross. It is communion and Christmas — the complete physical world yet also the entire spiritual, a truth that will never end: the reign of God over all life. Your life. And of course you know yourself so you ask, "Me? God did all this for me?" In a word, "Yes."

Right now we take this bread and this cup in the name of this Jesus as a reminder of the cross, of His death and resurrection and even the meaning of His birth. Not only His birth in Bethlehem, but His birth in your heart.

There's just 9 days left for Christmas.Make sure that your heart is ready to receive him on HIS special day! :) Prepare the way of the Lord!!

Heaven's Light Shines into This!!

2011-12-12T00:59:00.000+04:00

We live in a world of light, darkness, and shadows. This is the inescapable reality of our physical world. We may experience only one of these, but the other two are closer companions than we often realize. We also live an existence of goodness, evil, and uncertainty. We can experience one of these in its overwhelming pervasiveness, but the other two are usually nearby battling to be the supreme influence over our lives.

But God is light, perfection and goodness:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).

And Jesus is God's most perfect gift! That's why Matthew sees prophecy declaring Jesus' arrival:

The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Matthew 4:16).

But was that darkness — the spiritual evil and uncertainty and those shifting shadows of the spiritual world — real or was it simply religious metaphor, hyperbole, and religious fear mongering to manipulate superstitious people?

Yes, the darkness was real. Jesus confronted it at every stage of his journey. From Herod's determination to murder him as a baby (Matthew 2:1-18), to his battle with the demons who took over the man we know as Legion (Mark 5:1-20), to his attack by the religious leaders in the Temple (Luke 22:53), to his betrayal by Judas (John 13:2-30), and through his time on the Cross (Matthew 27:45).

Yet all that the evil one threw at Jesus failed. Darkness was defeated. Darkness could not extinguish the light of God in the face of Jesus:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it (John 1:5).

Is that darkness real in our lives?

O yes! We see it in a million different ways in the brutality, evil, unfairness, brokenness, death, disease, disasters, exploitation, abuse, and violence that mar our world and invade our lives. That same darkness comes for us. It's knocking at our door and it desires to have us. Paul describes it this way:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

Heaven's light shines into this darkness and drives it away!

This is why Jesus came: to bring light, to cast out the darkness, and to drive away the shadows. The baby proclaimed by angels, welcomed by Shepherds, and worshiped by Magi from the east brought God's light to all of us caught in darkness. Paul gave this promise to those of us who recognize this baby in the manger as our Savior:

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

So what do we do with this Savior, this grace, this light from heaven?

We receive it, we live in it, and we celebrate it. Most of all, we share that light! We are "the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference" he has made in our lives (1 Peter 2:9).

We live in a world of light, darkness, and shadows. Yet this child in the manger and this man on Golgotha's cross is also our Lord who left behind an empty tomb and ended darkness' reign over our lives. So no matter where you are or what is going on in your life, realize that God sent Jesus so we could know that heaven's light shines into this darkness and drives it away!

Take time out and watch this video:

http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/21215/Heavens-Light-Shines

Have a very blessed 3rd week of Advent!:)

" Poisoned Apples "

2011-12-05T08:49:00.001+04:00

Write an article for a movie review magazine, giving your critical opinion on a movie you saw when you were younger and have re watched recently.

Poisoned apples, missing glass slipper and princes in disguise; these fairytale themes were the outline of my five year old life. Being a little girl, I enjoyed living in a dream world with my “princess friends”. My inspiration poured out of movies such as Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and so on.

Two months ago, I visited a video library back in my hometown after several years of living in the city. A wave of memories washed over me as I passed the “Children’s section”. Eager to reminisce in the joys of my past, I picked up one of my all time favorite movies “Snow White”.

Watching the movie again, I expected it to be laughs and fun, but in turn I was left speechless, unable to digest the Grimm fairytale before my eyes. As a child watching the animation of “Snow White”, my main focus was the little dwarves and the (rather premature) romance between Snow White and her prince. Having an innocent, uneducated mind of ignorance, that’s the most you would expect from a child.

However, 10 years later after phases of interest in symbolism, my eyes were open to a completely different story behind the story... Now you may accuse me of reading too much into a fairytale, but I do believe that “Snow White” was much more than a children’s story; in fact I believe Snow White was an allegory.

Let’s begin with some background information; Walt Disney was a Christian man who believed in the use of symbolism. He would occasionally put symbols into his animation to either encourage a belief or raise awareness of a situation. He couldn’t possibly have gotten into trouble for this for his silent messages were always hidden behind the happy faces of his cartoons. You may be wondering what I’m going on about, but think about it; could the rescue of Geppetto from the whale be a reference to Jonah in the Bible, or purely coincidence? In the movie Lion King, was Scar’s promise to the hyenas (and their Gestapo-like march in the song “Be Prepared”) a connection to the rule of Hitler in Germany, or was it just an evil plot conjured by another villain?

Going back to Snow White; much of the symbolism in this movie is based on Christianity, even paralleling some stories from the Bible. Let’s begin with the three colors she is associated with- White, Red and Black. These are the three colors of the life cycle. I have chosen to relate Snow White to Jesus’ life. White being the colour of birth and his pure nature, Red being the color of his life and passion, Black used to refer to his death and the cruelty against him.

The next significant thing I noticed in the movie was the names and number of dwarves. There are 7 dwarves, possibly representing the seven days of the week, or the time in which God made the earth (including his final day of rest). These dwarves in the original fairytale had no names; the names were added for the Disney version. These names show the seven moods of man, such as grumpy, dopey, happy etc.

Snow White encourages work and wash with her constant smile as she sings her way through her chores. On one occasion, she convinces all the dwarves that they must wash properly in order to be clean and healthy. After this “washing” the dwarves seem to have changed, seeing life in a brighter light and enjoying every moment together. This is a clear message of baptism, a life-changing experience involving cleansing through water.

Altering the plot of the Grimm brothers’ tale, the evil stepmother only visited Snow White once, offering her a poisoned apple. If we remember back to the Old Testament, the downfall of Eve was a bite from the apple of a forbidden tree. This can be seen very clearly as Snow White falls into a deep trance after eating a bite of the poisoned apple. There is an obvious link between the story and the Christian religion.

Towards the end of the movie, death and resurrection is displayed in its mild form. Snow white falls into a deep sleep leaving her dwarves mourning her loss. After a period of waiting, the prince comes along and wakes her. Thinking back to the time of Jesus, he too rose again after a period of waiting (3 days to be exact, this number is related to the primary colors of the tale).

This movie has left me amazed with the fact that children’s movies may not always be what they seem. Watching it again, I was no longer following the plot, but I understood the humor, grasped more of the dialogue and searched for a deeper meaning that Walt Disney may have been trying to send.

Again, you may accuse me of reading too much into a fairytale, but I do believe that “Snow White” was much more than a children’s story; in fact I believe Snow White was an allegory.

Amy Abraham

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Amy Abraham is a 11th grader who studies at the Hebron School, Ooty, India.

Christmas Fear factor?

2011-11-30T00:27:00.000+04:00

"If you know the movie is scary, why watch it?" we questioned our teens who had nightmares afterward. "You don't understand! It's fun!" they said.

Many adults have long given up the notion of being frightened as a way of entertainment. We have vowed never to get on any rides in the amusement park that will raise our blood pressure or churn our stomachs.

Unfortunately, many of us have also mellowed spiritually. We prefer not to be emotional or passionate about any thing. Even Christmas has become just another holiday tradition — mildly fun, but hardly exciting.

For the shepherds, that very first Christmas was an action-packed thriller, filled with all sorts of fear factors.

Would they still live after witnessing the angels and the glory of God? Humans were not normally allowed into the presence of God's glory!

How would the Messiah's family receive them? After all, they were only lowly shepherds!

What would others think of them and their story of angels?

Their story hardly seemed believable.

That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone!" (Luke 2:8-10)

Has the Christmas story become dull?

Admittedly, for many of us the Christmas story has become predictably dull. Yes, we know the where and how of Jesus' birth, we know the plot but long have forgotten the purpose of the Nativity, and many even contend that we cannot know the date of the Lord's birth with certainty so why even bother with celebrating it on a certain day? For us, there are no more fear factors — only tradition, routine, and detached discussion.

What would make this Christmas a little bit more thrilling like that holy night the shepherds first met God's Messiah and their Savior?

What would open our hearts to the Lord's glory like the shepherds experienced the heavenly host in all of their heavenly glory?

What risk are we willing to take at Christmas to share in the joy of Jesus' birth like the shepherds?

Maybe we've forgotten that it's fun ... and thrilling ... and glorious ... joyous ... and holy!

News Flash: There's just 25 days to Christmas!! He was born so that Man no more may Die. Start rejoicing.

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A Day of Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T13:49:00.000+04:00

Before I start with todays article, heres a story that will help set the pace.

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As the holiday season approaches I get excited! The thrill of families coming together, enjoying great food, cooler weather, long held traditions, and, of course, great food, is the recipe for my perfect time of year. There are so many traditions and rituals taking place during the holidays it can be difficult to tell one year from the next. The same family members eat the same meals, discussing the same issues, around the same table.

Only when something changes or a new tradition is born does the year stick out clear in my memory. A year I will never forget was not long ago when a new tradition was started. On Thanksgiving Day as I gathered around the dinner table, it was suggested that we each share the things we are thankful for. I had seen other families practice similar traditions, but this was the first time I was asked to share my list of blessings aloud.

As I went to work compiling my list of things to be thankful for, I started to feel a little embarrassed. How is it that all the Thanksgiving Day’s of my past had come and I had forgotten to actually give thanks? Then I realized just how long of a list I was going to have! A scripture came to mind …

Call out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Be glad as you serve the Lord. Come before Him with songs of joy. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His field. Go into His gates giving thanks and into His holy place with praise. Give thanks to Him. Honor His name. For the Lord is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. And He is faithful to all people and to all their children-to-come (Psalm 100).

What better time to remember our blessings than on a holiday that was meant for giving thanks.

I’ll never forget the feelings of thankfulness I felt on that day. A great tradition had been born.

It can be difficult at times for us to see God’s blessings; the holidays are not always full of good memories. People are forced to deal with tragedies and struggles even on holidays. In difficult times it’s important to remember that “the Lord is God ... We are His people and the sheep of his field.” We can be assured of God’s love for us and find comfort in his blessing.

In hard times or times of blessing, we are never without thankfulness. We all need an occasional reminder to stop and thank God for his goodness. What better time to remember our blessings than on a holiday that was meant for giving thanks.

- Author Unknown

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From the beginning, this American holiday was not about food and football, as much as it was about reserving a day to celebrate the spirit of thankfulness. It was, and still is, a national reminder to be grateful, and, yes, a calling to reconnect with grace.

Although defined by many as an emotion, I believe thankfulness is a choice — a life choice. Followers of Jesus choose gratitude because they have experienced an undeserved and unexpected outpouring of grace.

As you go through today, Take a walk and thank God for his grace.
Think about the gifts God has given you in spite of, and in the midst of, your pain and grief, your frustrations and failures, and your mess-ups and bad choices. Your impossible times are more than enough reason for the Thanksgiving season.
Thank HIM for growth and change and understanding that has come through watching others show grace and faith in the middle of adversity.
Thank God for the good you have experienced, especially the good you didn't earn or deserve.
Look for the fingerprints of God in the strangest places and share the spirit of thanksgiving with at least one other person.
Do something that encourages others to be grateful. It's infectious.
Write an unexpected "Thank You" note, or send an email. Unwrap the gift of grace and find the power to choose thanksgiving.

Give thanks, with a greatful heart
Give thanks, to the Holy one..
Give thanks, cos he has Given
Jesus Christ his son..

~GIVE THANKS!~

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media
olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

Can I Call You My Dad?

2011-11-23T15:49:00.000+04:00

Every so often when I talk to folks about Father Duenas, I quickly find that they have problems with the Catholic Church. I find this out through the immediate statement that “Jesus tells Christians to call no man father. You Catholics must not be Christian.”

My response usually begins with “Really? And all this time I thought I was a follower of Christ! I guess I should rethink things. Can you show me in the Bible where it says that?” Surprisingly, most folks are not able to find the Scripture quote. They just “know it’s in there somewhere. Pastor Billy Joe Jim Bob told me at Bible study.”

I like to be helpful guy, especially when it comes to finding Scripture quotes, so I will pull out a Bible and open it to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 23 verse 9. Here we find Jesus instructing the Apostles that they are to: “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.”

So, is the Church wrong? Should we call priests “Father”? Perhaps Saint Paul can help us here. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he says:

“I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me.” (1Cor 4:14-16)

Be imitators of him? But he calls himself Father Paul! In fact, he goes on in verse 17 to say: “For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach them everywhere in every church.” (1Cor 4:17)

His ‘son’? Is this just Saint Paul being difficult to understand? Well, he refers to Saints Timothy and Titus as his true children (1Tim 1:2 and Tit 1:4) and even refers to one individual as “my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment.” (Philemon 10). Seems pretty clear he is referring to himself as a father.

In the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:2), Saint Luke tells us that Saint Stephen refers to his “brothers and fathers” in his last moments on earth prior to his martyrdom. Remember, Jesus’ words are understood by some folks as meaning we should not call any person on earth our father. What is the punishment for these terrible public sinners Paul and Stephen?

Their punishments were great indeed, but only at the hands of evil men. Saint Stephen was granted a vision of heaven immediately before being stoned to death and Saint Paul is, well, Saint Paul! Hardly a bunch of Jesus haters. How could they have so terribly misunderstood Jesus?

Let’s look at the possibility that maybe Saint Stephen and Saint Paul did not misunderstand Jesus. How then do we interpret Jesus’ words? If we read the verses immediately before and immediately after the verse in question, we can get an idea of what Jesus was talking about.

“The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. … All their works are performed to be seen. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor at synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation, ‘Rabbi’. You have but one teacher and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt 23: 2-12)

We see by putting everything in context that Jesus is condemning seeking the praise of men and claiming authority where there is none. To understand Jesus’ words as condemning calling people father who are in fact “fathers” is to do violence to the Scriptures.

Saint Paul tells us to “remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it.”(2 Tim 3:14) Father Duenas’ faith and teaching come from none other than Jesus Christ. And Pastor Billy Joe Jim Bob’s teaching?

Perhaps we should be imitators of Saint Paul and call our priests “Father”. I plan to keep calling my dad, “Dad”, what about you?

Robert Morgan, Catholic Evidence Guild of Guam

Small things..Big Value.

2011-11-21T15:50:00.000+04:00

This article probably is best described as a sudden realization that came to my own mind. Over the past weeks, the blog featured articles along the lines of making a difference in the world as we know it- there was the article on thinking differently, of God using us no matter our background, of us being the difference and so on. Somewhere down the line I think, I may have missed the "smaller" picture. You will understand what I mean by the end of today’s article, and I hope that you to find as much of a joy in the smaller things there is to Life, as in the big things.

Big things in your time O Lord. And not in mine!

- Olivia

---

Is it possible that we have misunderstood, or ignored, the value of small? Jesus saw something in smallness that we may overlook.

Consider these statements:

"'When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'" (Matthew 25:39-40).

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matthew 25:44-46).

Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all — he is the greatest" (Luke 9:47-49).

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:19-20).

Jesus saw the value of small. We must learn to pay attention to the small stuff.

We tend to focus on big. Big cars. Big houses. Big churches. Big budgets. Big signs. Big events. Big bank accounts. Big projects. Big attendance. Big numbers. Big buildings.

From the outside looking in, would it appear that we believe that big equals better?

Jesus did not seem to be implying that big is necessarily bad. He also encouraged us to have enough faith to do big things. He emphasized having a faith that will move mountains, faith to walk on water, and that the disciple's faith would enable them to do even greater things than they had seen Him do.

However, we must not forget that those big things begin with something small: faith the size of a mustard seed, taking one step outside of the boat, serving one another, and washing feet. Jesus pointed to children as our example of what "the kingdom is like." He spoke of being the least in the kingdom. He reminds of the importance of simply offering someone a cup of water.

Perhaps we should consider our plans and re-evaluate our approach to life and to ministry. We would do well not to allow ourselves to be so enamoured by the big that we miss the value of the small. It may very well be that the greatest impact you will have this week in the life of another human being will come from doing something small. One conversation. A word of gratitude. A kind comment. A one-on-one conversation. A moment of listening. A small group study. Two or three gathered to pray. A single thoughtful act. A good application of the Scripture. A phone call. A text message. An email. A gentle touch. A note of encouragement. A small gift. An hour of your time.

Just this week, pay attention to small. Let God turn it into something big ... but only if He wants it to be big.

Living in a world of Faithlessness..

2011-11-20T17:48:00.000+04:00

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing -Psalm 145:13-16

A man and a woman stand in the front of a church building and promise to love one another “until death separates us.” Troubles come. The joy fades. Temptation gets the best of them. One of them gives in. “I could not help it. It just happened.” They file for divorce. What happened to faithfulness?

The job offer comes with the promise of a hefty salary, excellent benefits, and the opportunity to advance. The economy slides into a slump, a recession, and things change. First come the rumors of about layoffs. Then, come the layoffs. The perks are gone. The retirement is gone. The security is gone. The future is dark. What happened to faithfulness?

The church felt like home. It seemed to be a good fit. People were coming. Numbers were increasing. People were being encouraged. Plans were being made. Life was good. Then, something changed. Plans were changed. Promises were broken. Hearts were broken. Relationships were broken. What happened to faithfulness?

Look to the Lord!

There was a day when a man’s word was his bond. A handshake was good enough. A promise was kept. Vows were sacred. How elected figures talked in public was how they lived in private. When politicians made promises they tried to keep them. Something changed. What happened to the faithfulness?

Does faithfulness still exist?

Has faithfulness disappeared?

Perhaps we are looking for faithfulness in the wrong place? As Psalm 145:13-16 indicates, it is the Lord who is faithful. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion endures. He is faithful. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. He satisfies the desires of every living thing.

If the political speeches leave you empty, if personal integrity seems to be missing, and if you are weary of the endless contracts and paper work required to provide proof that the person with whom you are doing business will keep a promise causes you to ask what happened to faithfulness, then look to the Lord.

Look to the Lord, He is faithful. Look to the Lord, He will keep His word. Look to the Lord, His Kingdom will last and His dominion will endure. You can trust Him. You can depend on Him. You can rest in Him. You can rely on Him. He will not betray you, forget you, or reject you. He is faithful.

The Lord is faithful.

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media
olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

Walking Wounded..

2011-11-16T12:36:00.000+04:00

God will not look you over for medals, degrees, or diplomas, but for scars. -- Elbert Hubbard

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart with all wisdom, for it is the wellspring of life”

The Word of God is full of deep and wonderful truth. Many of us have been advised to “guard our hearts” in friendships. It is indeed wise to guard both our emotions and our expectations. We must be wise, and not needlessly expose ourselves to hurt or disappointment.

Even those of us who have had wonderful families, perhaps Christian families, will know that no person is perfect. We are always going to get let down or hurt at some point. Those of us who have come from more troubled backgrounds will probably have learnt that really you cannot live with your security based on people. Parents and other friends should be an encouragement to us; loving us and being a positive input into our lives. But when this is not the case, we can be devastated. How ever fortunate or not we are with the people we have around is, our security must be in God. He is the one who made us and who loves us like no one else could. Although it is very normal to look for encouragement and approval from those around us, we must not allow disappointment to devastate us if our hopes are not realised.

In this life, we need human companions as well as God for a companion (Genesis 2:18). If there is no one around you at the moment who is providing this friendship, at least in some way, then actively try to find it. Life can become a constant test of survival, where you have no real choice apart from just to accept suffering and to stick it out.

God - The Rock, is secure
It can take time to know healing from our hurts and disappointments, and with this to trust God and truly place him as our security. Disappointment is a nasty enemy. We may hope for just simple, basic things in life. Maybe good friends, or a partner to share our live with. But our track record registers disappointment. However, we need not loose hope when we know God. We may not get all we want or hope for, and this is hard to accept when other people seem happy and are enjoying themselves.

With God, all good things are possible. If it is confidence you need, he can bring it, and if it is a miracle you need, he can answer your prayer. Don’t give up or loose hope, and do gain encouragement and help form where ever you can. If there is some sort of a spiritual curse over your life, which stifles you living in freedom and enjoying good things, then he can break it by his power (Colossians 2:13-15)

Grasping to hope
You may be in the depths of pain and disappointment. It may be of some hope to think that Jesus has always been through worse than us. Perhaps it is as if you are finding it hard to breath, such is the fear and depression that chokes you. Jesus must have experienced this and more as he suffered for us on the cross. We at least get to catch our breath, though we suffer.

When we feel very low or isolated, even very basic recognition from other Christians can lift us and bring us hope. It allows us a wonderful glimpse of God and of how life can be for us on earth. Sometimes we feel that we are hanging on for dear life. A friend once used an image to encourage himself. It was of seeing himself in deep waters, drowning. That’s how he felt at the time. He saw a helicopter - which represented Jesus, hovering over the water, and someone reached down to rescue him from the seas. This brings to mind Psalm 18:16:
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me, he drew me out of deep waters”.

Selfless Trust in God
Healing really can take time. However, we find moments of relief and hope, and quickly learn to take every bit of encouragement that we can get. There is so much hope and encouragement in the Word of God. Don’t ever loose hope when you know God, as he can restore and heal, and he will never leave you. If you do miss out in life, and do not get all that you hope for on earth, he will make things up to you in Heaven. Provision and healing will be made complete. God is perfect, and he will richly reward us if we are faithful, he will not deprive us of good things.

We are all on our way home to Heaven, and on the journey we can know the healing and power of Jesus in our lives. We can know comfort, peace and provision, as well as the privilege of serving others and sharing God with those who do not know him. Hold on, and hold fast to God’s hand. He will never let go.

You may walk wounded today, but know that the greatest Healer is at work.In His time, He makes ALL things beautiful!!

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media
olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

In the midst of the Ugliness.

2011-11-15T12:44:00.000+04:00

Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ... (Philippians 2:15 ).

I'm tired of the ugliness. The financial struggles this year are ugly. The 2012 election cycle promises to be one of the ugliest campaigns in history. Public discourse is punctuated with disrespect and foul language. As news breaks from day to day we are exposed to all manner of creative ugliness. In the last few months I have witnessed ugly weather, ugly moods, ugly situations, even ugly truths.

Uglyism lives! It appears when we least expect it. Instead of staying just below the surface, it's popping above the surface and hanging around. This week, even with your eyes closed, you will see ugliness. Without trying, you will be exposed to ugly comments, ugly injustices, ugly squabble, ugly arrogance, ugly attitudes, ugly confrontations, and a few ugly messes.

What do you do when faced with ugliness? I see 4 possible options.

You can run; run as fast as you can.
Ignore reality and go straight to Denial.
Condemn the ugliness and talk constantly about how bad it is and how sad it is that we live in this mess.
Become an agent of transformation.

Hidden somewhere in the middle of ugliness is blessing and beauty, put there by the Creator. He continues to allow ugliness so we can get introduced to new beauty. It's there, unseen, but there.

This is not the time to run. It's time to be the story of blessing, to see the unseen beauty growing wild in this culture of ugliness.

One of the most thought-provoking movies in my DVD collection is "The Green Mile." It's a story of ugliness and pain. Most of the movie is set in a death row prison of the 1930s. In a cell, toward the end of the hall, is an innocent large black man named John Coffey. He has few words to say, but he is the reason for the movie. They say he committed a brutal crime, but as the story unfolds you learn he is innocent. And, more than that, he has miraculous gifts of healing and prophesy. Just by touching the arm of a fellow inmate, he can see the rapes and murders that the man has committed.

Tom Hanks plays the head guard who finally comes to the truth: John is innocent. He asks John if he wants him to fight to get him off death row.In a weeping response, Coffey explains:

“I's tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world ever' day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?”

I still remember how this dialogue got me to pause, rewind and play about 2 times.

We all have a gift, maybe not one of Coffey's gifts, but we have a gift. The God of transformation has given us eyes to see the unseen, to see beauty when all around you is pain and ugliness. We CAN see the good when it's covered in badness, the hope in hopelessness, the healing in pain. There is beauty in the middle of ugliness.

Now, the question: Do we choose to open the gift, or run with the ugly crowd?

For one week, just one week, let’s try seeing the unseen. Let’s pray for eyes to see beyond the ugliness, to see hope and goodness and beauty. It's a gift from God. Believe it. Live it, for just one week and we will be transformed. Our mind will be renewed. We will become an agent of transformation.

Look for it!

God can use US!

2011-11-13T14:46:00.000+04:00

There are many reasons why God shouldn't have called you.

But don't worry. You're in good company . . . .

§ Moses stuttered.

§ David's armor didn't fit.

§ John Mark was rejected by Paul.

§ Timothy had ulcers.

§ Hosea's wife was a prostitute.

§ Jacob was a liar.

§ David had an affair.

§ Solomon was too rich.

§ Jesus was too poor.

§ Abraham was too old.

§ David was too young.

§ Peter was afraid of death.

§ Lazarus was dead.

§ John was self-righteous.

§ Naomi was a widow.

§ Paul was a murderer.

§ So was Moses.

§ Jonah ran from God.

§ Miriam was a gossiper.

§ Gideon and Thomas both doubted.

§ Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.

§ Elijah was burnt out.

§ John the Baptist was a loudmouth.

§ Martha was a worry-wart.

§ Mary was lazy.

§ Samson had long hair.

§ Noah got drunk.

Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse? So did Peter, Paul -- well, lots of folks did.

But God doesn't require a job interview.

He doesn't hire and fire like most bosses, because He's more our Dad than our Boss.

He doesn't look at financial gain or loss.

He's not prejudiced or partial, not judging, grudging, sassy, or brassy, not deaf to our cry, not blind to our need. As much as we try, God's gifts are free.

We could do wonderful things for wonderful people and still not be . . . Wonderful.

Satan says, "You're not worthy." Jesus says, "So what? . . . I AM."

Satan looks back and sees our mistakes. God looks back and sees the cross.

He doesn't calculate what you did in '98. It's not even on the record.

Sure. There are lots of reasons why God shouldn't have called us.

But if we are magically in love with Him, if we hunger for Him more than our next breath, He'll use us in spite of who we are, where we've been, or what we look like.

Pray that as Christians, we will step out of our limitations into the illimitable nature of who God is. Then our passion for God and our passion to communicate with Him will make out-do of our limitations.- Author Unknown

Refiner and Purifier

2011-11-13T14:28:00.000+04:00

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver...'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God ...

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ' He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, ' Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

- Author Unknown

---

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media
olivia.hsmt@gmail.com

Think Differently

2011-11-10T11:42:00.000+04:00

Steve Jobs recently passed away after 14 years as Apple's CEO. Jobs literally changed the world of computers, technology, and communication by introducing us to the iMac desktop computer in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010. The iTunes Music Store came along in 2003 and has become the top music retailer in the USA. Under his leadership, Apple rallied from a company in ruins in 1997 to now sitting on a cash reserve of more than $76 billion (MacWorld). His commitment to creative innovation and marketing is as much a trademark as the apple logo prominently displayed on their products.

This commitment to think differently is one of the things I appreciate most about the legacy Jobs left. He thought differently, and encouraged others to think differently. Because of the willingness to think differently and act on those thoughts, Jobs and Apple helped change the world.

Although Jobs will be remembered for his technical and marketing genius, he was not the first to suggest that we "Think Different."

Two thousand years earlier as Jesus trained His disciples to change their world; He told them that they, too, must think differently. Once, after a dispute among his disciples over who would get the seats of honour in the new kingdom, Jesus told them:

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45).

Did you get it? "Not so with you." It's as if Jesus is saying, "You will have to 'Think Different' if you are going to be my disciples."

He also used phrases like: "You must become like little children" (Matthew 18:3), and, "The first will be last and the last will be first" (Matthew 20:16). Jesus is teaching us to think differently! Then there is that word repent that calls us to both think and act differently! This was Jesus' message from the very beginning of his preaching ministry:

"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15 ).

If we applied this think different mind-set to our lives,

Our lives will be more about helping people who have nothing to offer us and less about how to satisfy our own desires.
Our worship will be more focused on the God who really is instead of the God we want Him to be.
We do not have to have things our way all the time.
We will not be concerned about getting the credit for a good work, but instead will simply find joy in doing the good work.
We will remember that a little child is our model for what it means to be in the Kingdom of God.
We will realize that giving really is better than receiving.
We will understand that forgiveness is not optional.
We remember that vengeance is God's business, not ours.
We know that pleasing God is more important than being popular, famous, or important.

If we allow Jesus to teach us to think differently, we might not change the whole world, but we will likely change the world for at least one! - Tim Norvell.

Don’t wait on the world to change. BE the change instead.

Olivia Pereira

HSI Media

olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

Like a Thief in the Night..

2011-11-09T13:55:00.000+04:00

Forty days after being raised from the dead, Jesus Christ was taken to heaven. At that time, his followers were told, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) Christians have been waiting for His return ever since.

Some people think they have figured out exactly when that will be. You may have seen the billboards along the side of the road. I don’t question the sincerity of the people who put those signs up, but I’m convinced they’re wrong.

Years ago, a man of God felt the need to comfort some of his friends. People around them were talking about the timing of the end of the world, and he wanted to reassure them that the rumours they were hearing were not true. This man, named Paul, wrote: “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2)

Paul had just written to these believers about Jesus’ return, but he didn’t want them worrying about when that would be. He didn’t want them trying to calculate dates nor decipher times. So he tells them: It will be like a thief in the night.

There will be no billboards along the highway. There will be no Mayan calendars announcing the end of the world. Just as thieves arrive unexpectedly, Jesus will return without warning.

For early Christians, the idea that their Lord was coming back was an exciting one. They wanted to be prepared when He came. In that same letter, Paul said, “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6) If we’re awake, we won’t be surprised by a thief in the night.

We should be watching. There should be an expectant edge to our lives, as we wait for the day when our hopes are realized. We don’t know if that will be today or a thousand years from now. But we know that it will be a wonderful time for those longing to see Jesus. As Paul wrote to his friend Timothy: “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Jesus is coming back. We don’t know when. But we know it will be a great day.

- Story by Tim Archer
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As the year 2011 comes to an end, I find myself wondering where this year went. What good did I do that was worth talking about? Am i prepared to see 2012 and all that it brings?

For the first time in 23 years of my life, I think I’m actually scared of the New Year approaching. Why? Because this past year has been nothing short of a reality check for me and because I’ve come to learn the truth, and when you know the truth, it’s so hard to ignore it!

Yes, this New Year’s Eve will still be a time where I will joyfully shout out “Happy New Year" just like I’ve done at every New Year’s Eve gone by. Though at the back of mind, I’m quite sure I’ll be thinking of the little few days I have left before Jesus comes back to this world.

I’m going to make every day count going forward. I want to welcome Jesus with not only my arms but with my heart wide open too! I hope you’re with me! :)

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media
olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

The Surrendered Life- A Poem

2011-11-03T14:18:00.000+04:00

It is the surrendered life
that lives with greatest care
as on the edge of a knife
there is no caution to spare.

For His stewards are we all
in this world of His creation
and we will rise or will fall
on the seas of our expectation.

If this one thing we know
that to us nothing belongs
nor with us will it go
it becomes one of those songs,

That when you sing them out
they float up into the air
for all those who are about
to hear them as you share.

Then the surrendered life is free
when we’ve made this concession
that nothing belongs to me
all things are God’s possession.

When there is nothing to lose
what a wonderous thing it is
and we relinquish as we choose
to surrender what is His!

- Teresa Marie

DYING TO ONESELF

2011-11-03T13:18:00.000+04:00

Picture this scene:

You are driving on the road, when this car comes behind you, tail bending , flashing hiss cars front beams, you allow him to pass - but that’s not the end . He starts intimidating you for taking too long to move out of the way!

Imagine a very common situation for many of us today at work, where you have a nagging boss, a real tyrant , who yells at you no matter how hard you work,

A situation at home, wherein you are nagged by your spouse over what you feel are petty things,

You get constantly yelled at by your parents over issues you feel they do not understand,

In your group of friends or peers you are constantly ridiculed.

When you are intimidated, neglected, ridiculed or purposely provoked and you don’t react or dwell on the hurt or the insult but your heart is at peace,

- THAT IS DYING TO ONESELF.

In life we are faced with similar situations, some even graver than these!!! In all of these situations, how do we react and more importantly how would God want us to react?

When your good is spoken of as evil, when your views are not considered, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, when you reach out and the door is closed in your face and yet in spite of all this you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patience and with love

– THAT IS DYING TO ONESELF.

John 12: 24 says "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”

The meaning of dying to self is that…I die, meaning I am no longer the reason for my existence, and no longer the center of my own little universe. Instead I’ve replaced the
“Me, Myself and I” attitude with our Lord, Jesus Christ. He lives in me now, so I begin caring and considering for others at the expense of myself, like Jesus always did.

James 1:2-4 says

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

If our lives went so smoothly, without a dark cloud or any problem, we would not even have any knowledge of having a need of God. He keeps us at times in situations where we are so broken and kneel before Him until we really understand and know that we cannot take another breath without Him giving it to us. He does this out of love. Our faith has to be and will be tested and we need to walk forward blindly, having only His hand and name to cling to.

Dying to self and suffering, go hand-in-hand. Whatever the situation you are going through , work , at home or with your family that is driving you to the point of tears and you feel like you are up against a wall.

Ask yourself, do you believe that God is in control of your life – down to the very last detail? Can you trust Him with your life? Are you prepared to trust Him when all is going wrong? As we celebrate our happiness with Him, so too we will at times, suffer with Him and we are to count it all as joy! "Dying to self" is not something you should be afraid about. Carrying your cross is reason for joy!!!.

He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30)

If our goal is to die to ourselves so that we are carrying out God's will all the time then we need to go through some processes to achieve that- processes that will lead us through a journey of holiness and involves humility, strengthening our faith, and love .

For this, Jesus must increase in our lives, and our worldly thoughts that we've had since childhood must decrease. Our worldly wants are directly contrary to God's desires. In order for your spirit to grow, our worldly desires must decrease

A path to achieve this is similar to how we eat well to get a healthy body- we need spiritual food for Jesus to grow in us- a healthy diet of

1) The Word of God,

2) Fellowship with spiritually inclined Christian Brothers & Sisters

3) Constantly reaching out to others in need

We would have to completely cut out on things of the flesh , i.e. all things material and worldly and purge ourselves of our pride, self-will, selfishness, self-esteem, and all the other things that cause us to think about ourselves first and God second , the flesh must die . I must add that this is all possible only with God's help and guidance. You cannot do it alone.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 ; "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Imagine you are this unshapely hideous rock and you want God to carve out this wonderful masterpiece out of it , this would require him chiseling out all the unwanted stuff , our sins , our attitudes , our character ,in short our entire life . This chiseling would come with excruciating pain as every time he chisels we die to ourselves ridding ourselves of all the un-wantedness in our lives. He will break us and shape us and grow us and then will continue to do this all the way through our lives with Him. He will form His Son’s likeness in us. This obviously will cause suffering. Dying is a painful thing. We want to hold onto ourselves so very much. He wants us to let go and trust Him regardless of what we see in front of us right now.

This simple explanation I share above, should be going on every day all day quietly in the background as we learn to die more each day and walk more and more in Him

In essence;

When we truly recognize that serving one self is no good, rid ourselves of material and worldly desires of the flesh and we choose to serve only the Lord.

– THAT IS DYING TO ONESELF.

When you can see your brother or sister prosper and let him have his needs met and you honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no jealousy, nor do you question God even though You are in more dire circumstances and your own needs are far greater

– THAT IS DYING TO ONESELF.

When you are insulted or wronged and humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, without resentment or hatred rising up within your heart

– THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

Concluding Prayer: Dear Lord, bring me to a place of humility before the cross so that I willingly die to myself in order that I may live in, with and through you alone . Amen.

Sunith Dsouza

HSI Media

Sunith.hsimt@gmail.com

Flat on Our Backs.. In Prayer!

2011-10-31T10:40:00.000+04:00

2Corinthians 12:9 says - 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

Sometimes we need God to thrust us into total helplessness to hear what he values most. One man experienced this lesson lying on his back for six weeks.

In Isaiah 57:15 the Lord says, "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."

This scripture applies well to Ben Patterson's painful health ordeal.

It was the spring of 1980 when it happened. Ben was an active, motivated minister, constantly putting himself to work at the tasks of building up the church. Then he suffered excruciating lower back pain: two herniated discs! The prescription was total bed rest. Yet because his bed was too soft, he was confined to lying on the floor for six weeks instead. .

It was extremely humiliating, boring, and frustrating. He couldn't preach. He couldn't lead meetings. He couldn't visit people — or do any of the things he wanted to. All he could do was pray. Each day he got out the church directory and prayed for every member of his church as he lay there flat on his back. But after a while, the time spent on his back became sweet.

When he recovered, he said to God, "Lord, this has been great, this praying. It's too bad I don't have time to do this when I go back to work." Then he sensed the Lord saying to him, "Ben, you have the same 24 hours each day when you're weak as when you're strong. The difference is that when you're strong, you think you're in charge."

I hope Ben's story will remind us all that when we stay on our knees, we stop being "lords" and let Jesus be Lord of his church. And when he is Lord, there is power and there is fruit.

A look in the Mirror

2011-10-30T11:28:00.000+04:00

A woman rushes to see her doctor, looking very much worried and all strung out.

She rattles off, "Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were blood-shot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What's wrong with me, Doctor?"

The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly says, "Well, I can tell you one thing ... there's nothing wrong with your eyesight!"

The mirror of the Word of God will reveal our spiritual flaws.

As that joke makes clear, looking in a mirror won't correct any problems you have, but it may make it clear that there is a problem! That is exactly the point James makes to early Christian believers:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25)

Looking into the mirror of the Word of God will reveal our spiritual flaws that need to be corrected — and sometimes this mirror will reveal an ugly sight! However, unless we take steps to apply God's Word and change what we see, we haven't accomplished any good. With the Holy Spirit's power, God's word will not only convict and convince us of our need for change and action, the Spirit will also empower us to that needed change and action. Let's not just take a glance in the mirror, but use it to alter our lives to honour God!

Have you looked in that mirror lately?

Written by Alan Smith
(http://www.heartlight.org/)

John 3:16

2011-10-26T12:20:00.000+04:00

In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner; the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers.

He walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and its awful cold in there for tonight. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16, and they will let you in." So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door, and a lady answered.

He looked up and said, "John 3:16 ." The lady said, "Come on in, Son." She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, and she went off. The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself: John 3:16 ....I don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.

Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry?" He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food." The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more. Then he thought to himself: John 3:16... Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure makes a hungry boy full.

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16... I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.

The lady came in and got him. She took him to a room, tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he lay in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night, he thought to himself: John 3:16... I don't understand it but it sure makes a tired boy rested.
The next morning the lady came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food. After he ate, she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and picked up a big old Bible. She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face.

"Do you understand John 3:16 ?" she asked gently. He replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it." She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there, in front of that big old fireplace, he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought: John 3:16. .. .. I don't understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.

- Authur Unknown

Wow.

You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either, how God was willing to send His only Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand the agony of the Father and every angel in heaven as they watched Jesus suffer and die.

I don't understand the intense love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end. I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living.

The bible verse says John 3:16 : "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

The child and the policemen can be related to the people we meet in our lives daily. Whilst the policeman knew God and knew his love, the child did not know either. Did the policeman turn away when the boy asked for help? He could have- it surly wasn’t his duty to help a stranger find a place to stay in. But was it his duty to help spread the love of Christ to that little boy who dint know where true warmth and comfort rests? YES. It was. Today, it is our responsibility too, and in a world where everyone is so busy, ensuring we shoulder this responsibility is just as important as our lives are to us.

What are we doing today to help bring back a lost soul? Are we even concerned about getting back souls to Christ so that they don’t perish, but can have a share in eternal life with Christ too? You don’t need to only evangelize to be able to get a soul back to Christ. If we haven’t already, let’s start by doing the small things- For instance, not letting your anger get the better of you, forgiving those who have hurt you, bringing your friends along to HSI (or any other catholic outreach) meetings you attend or even taking them along when you go to Church.

Eternal Life… I’m definitely ensuring that many people get a share of that as I go along! I hope you will too.

P.S- Todays a good day to start bringing back souls to Christ, get your friends along!- We have Swapna Abraham (world-renowned known Worship singer) with us for the second time at our meeting in Jebel Ali. I hear it’s going to be AWSOME!

Olivia Pereira

HSI Media

Olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

No sickness is to BIG for our GOD!

2011-10-25T10:51:00.000+04:00

Freeda's testimony- Healed from Breast Cancer.

As you all know, this week has been dedicated to show support for the Global Breast Cancer Campaigns happening all around the world. In keeping with the same, we give to you Freeda's testimony, of how she was healed from breast cancer.

Freeda has been a member of the HSI for a good number of months now, and testified to what God had done in her life at one of our HSI meetings in Jebel Ali.

Our God is a God of big things! and this shows us how, even an illness such as cancer- which is known to be almost incurable, cannot stop our God from working in our lives if, we only have what it takes- FAITH.

Praise God! for all the wonderful things He is doing in your life right now, and for all the many problems that you are confronted with daily.

In Faith, no war is lost :)

Olivia Pereira

HSI Media

Olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

In case you are having any streaming issues, please see below:
Direct link to Freeda's testimony: http://www.youtube.com/user/hsiglobal#p/a/u/4/C3FcyN-Am_8
Direct link tothe HSI Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hsiglobal#g/a

Are we like Dandelion dust ?

2011-10-23T14:43:00.000+04:00

Dandelions.
Despite their bad reputation, dandelions are pretty little flowers with their yellow strands all tucked neatly into the center. And truly they are the most beautiful of all flowers when presented clutched in a child's dirty little hand. No one gets yelled at for picking them. Perhaps they grow only to be used and enjoyed by children.

Dandelions are ignored or attacked, never nurtured or cared for, and yet they always bloom profusely. They demand no pampering or special attention to yield their bright blossoms; they pop up in fields, in lawns, and between cracks in the sidewalk, even in the best neighborhoods. Can you imagine trying to grow them in a garden? They'd sneak through the boundaries and pop their sunny yellow faces up in the surrounding lawn. They would never stay put!

Christians should be more like dandelions. Our sunny yellow faces should be a reminder that simple faith has deep roots that are impossible to dislodge. Our vast number would show the world that even though we are not fancy or pampered we are evident everywhere, even in the best neighborhoods.

We should be as easily accessible as a dandelion. Jesus is. We need to get out of our gardens and jump across the boundaries that keep us where people expect to find us. We need to show our sunny yellow faces in all the spots that need a little brightening up - the crack in the sidewalk or the lawn of a country club.

We need to be like dandelion dust and sprinkle ourselves out on to a world that needs more of love with every day that goes by.

Confession: The doorway to Purification- Part 2

2011-10-22T10:58:00.000+04:00

MAKING A GOOD CONFESSION

"Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin. All hope consists in confession. In confession there is a chance for mercy. Believe it firmly. Do not doubt, do not hesitate, never despair of the mercy of God. Hope and have confidence in confession." -St. Isidore of Seville

Reconciliation is the sacrament that not only helps us realize our flaws, our humanness our imperfections but offers us an opportunity for healing and hope for ourselves and to make amends with others especially the ones whom we hurt the most.

Through this sacrament Jesus calls us to repentance, forgiveness, conversion and thereby a new life. Then, freed from our burdens, Jesus calls us to deliver his message of love and hope to the world.

Jesus knew well that many of us would lose the grace, the sharing-in-God's-own-life which came to us in Baptism. Since God's mercy is infinite and unconditional, it seems inevitable that he would provide a second chance for those who might relapse into sin.

However, Sacramental confession is no formality. It is an important cog in the wheel of our moral conversion and there are certain guidelines for a good confession.

The Five Steps Necessary for a Good Confession

1) An Examination of Conscience.

2) Contrition: Sorrow for one’s sins.

3) A Resolve to amend your life.

4) The Confession of one’s sins to a priest.

5) After Confession acceptance of one’s penance the priest assigns.

I. EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

One must examine his conscience honestly and thoroughly and must not withhold confession of any mortal sins (CCC 1456).

Examination of one’s conscience involves us to search seriously into our lives becoming aware of our sins, the gravity of them and the number of times we have wronged either in thoughts, words or deeds or in something good that we should have done and which we failed to do and have hurt our Lord, and caused harm to others and ourselves.

There are several ways to make a good examination of conscience.

A rather common one consists in reviewing our life in the light of the Ten Commandments and how often we have failed to keep them.

Another way consists in reflecting on the basic Christian virtues of faith, hope, love of God and neighbor, patience, purity, honesty, etc. and see if we have practiced them or not.

In simple terms examination of one’s conscience is to place ourselves in the presence of Almighty God and ask ourselves, in total honesty, if He is pleased with us, and if not, why?.

For this inward scrutiny of oneself, we need to seek the help of the Holy Spirit to ask for true discernment to know and detest one’s sins and have sincere sorrow for them.

II. CONTRITION: BEING SINCERELY SORROW FOR YOUR SINS

The confessor must be contrite and repentant (CCC 1451).

After self-examination we pass to CONTRITION, the key to God’s mercy and pardon. It is the most essential condition for a worthy reception of the Sacrament of Confession.

Sin separates our soul from God, by loosening the ties of our friendship with God.

To get back into God’s favor, one must sincerely repent of his wrongdoing firmly resolving not to commit them again.

Without this sorrow or contrition, there can be no pardon for sin. How can we expect forgiveness from God if we are not sorry for our sins and are fully repentant? Sorrow of heart is necessary for the pardon of sins in Confession.

Perfect contrition immediately cleanses the soul from all guilt of sin and reconciles it to God, however, perfect contrition alone without the Sacrament of Confession is not sufficient before receiving Holy Communion. The person must first go to Sacramental Confession; otherwise, he commits a mortal sin of sacrilege.

III. RESOLVE TO AMEND ONES LIFE

However, if a person enters the Sacrament with the intention of committing the sin later, then this person is not sorry for his sins and the sin will not be forgiven. (CCC 1494).

The third requisite for a good Confession is a firm purpose of amendment, a resolution to avoid sin at all times.

In Matthew 18: 8 our Lord says “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire”.

The best proof of true sorrow is a change of life. When one immediately falls into the sins which he has just confessed, and without a struggle to resist it then there is reason to fear that he had no true sorrow. But if he guards himself and tries to avoid occasions of sin, and prays fervently for graces to keep from sinning, we can reasonably hope that his was true resolve to amend his life.

Relapses into Former Sins could be overcome through fervent prayer asking God his grace to help you overcome temptation to fall into sin. We can also pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary through her holy rosary for this intention.

God Himself tells us, “Without Me, you can do nothing.”(Refer to John 15:5). Placing our faith entirely on our Lord to help us out will be of immense value in our Resolve to amend our lives and overcome all temptations.

IV. CONFESSION OF ONE’S SINS

The disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. (CCC 1424)

Confession is one trial where the guilty always gets a pardon and fresh lease of life

It is the most precious means of sanctification; however if done merely as a formality would considerably diminish its effect and should be avoided at all costs.

Preparing for confession is very important to receive its fruits. Try to prepare oneself for confession with a prayer or the Rosary and dedicate it that God may give us the grace to make a good, humble, sincere and worthy Confession.

Having prepared oneself for Confession, we go with great humility and modesty, and remember that we are about to present our self before the priest who takes the place of Jesus Christ Himself. Kneeling down, consider that we are at the feet of Jesus crucified, who desires to hear from our own lips a sincere Confession of all our sins, and is ready to pardon them if we really repent, and be washed in His own blood.

Another important fact is that we need to be as specific as we can while confessing.

Using an analogy: It does a doctor no good when we tell him "I don’t feel good" unless we specify the problem, eg; If our stomach is upset, he needs to know what we ate; "When we open up and tell him, "this is how I am feeling" it allows him to treat us accordingly.

In the same way, it does us no good to tell a priest generally "I have sinned." We need to specify our sins to receive the grace of a meaningful confession.

I think many a time our confessions are too vague with words like “sometimes “ , “often” , “ I was a bad person” or I hurt my friend etc , You need to tell the priest what you're sorry for and whom you hurt. Yes, you might not remember all your sins, or the number of times you’ve committed them, but do the best you can and also do not worry about the time you take to confess. When this is a matter of your life, your eternal life, time can take a backseat!!

It is a sacrilege to make a bad Confession and to receive absolution after it without having the right dispositions is to violate the sacredness of it.

V. ACCEPTANCE OF PENANCE

This sacrament restores the person to God's friendship. This reconciliation with God "brings a serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation" and restores all the blessings of being God's child. (CCC 1468)

On leaving the confessional, believe in your heart that God has forgiven your sins. Perform your penance as soon as possible, and thank God for the great favor He has granted you.

Once absolution is given, one will walk out of that confessional with a feeling of satisfaction and being "clean again". We step out into a new dawn leaving all the past baggage behind and believe we are remade once again into God’s own image.

Prayer:

Eternal Father! I thank you for your goodness and mercy. You have had compassion on me, even though I have grievously offended and gone far away from you. You have forgiven me even after falling into sin time and again. You have renewed me through the holy sacrament of Penance. Blessed Father because of your loving-kindness and your infinite mercy, I will never grieve You by sinning again. All that I am, all that I have, all that I do , I offer to Your service , your Will and your Glory. Amen.

Sunith D'souza

HSI Media

sunith.hsimt@gmail.com

A tribute to our Prayer Warriors!

2011-10-20T16:21:00.000+04:00

We all have prayer warriors- People that intercede for us on a daily basis, even when we don’t ask for their prayers.

When blessings rain down on us, whilst we may never forget to thank God for his graciousness, how many of us also take a moment to pray for and thank those people that were, and are praying for us daily? Think about it... These would normally be the people; we all perhaps, take for granted- our family and our closest friends.

I came across this very simple story and thought it was a great one to share with you all. I pray this story preach to you today, just as how it did to me. Read on.

'May all your prayers be answered'

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island.

The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God.

However, to determine whose prayers should be most effective, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food.

The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island and boarded the ship with his wife.

Since none of the other man’s prayers had been answered, he considered him unworthy to receive God's blessings, so he decided to leave the second man on the island.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

"My blessings are a result of my faith and prayers, since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so I figured he does not deserve anything."

"You are sorely mistaken, and are in great debt to him.”

“How’s that?” the first man asked.

”It was his great faith that invoked the blessings, and he prayed that all your prayers might be answered."
Are our blessings the fruits of our prayers and work alone, or of those of another praying for us? What (and who) are you praying for?

Let’s take a moment today, to thank and pray for all our prayer warriors. Remember to pray for your guardian angel too. Without them, this life would be a lot harder!

Olivia Pereira
HSI Media
olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

The Power of Testimony

2011-10-19T14:21:00.000+04:00

No matter how big or small we all have a story to share, a story that glorifies our God’s amazing grace. And indeed, sharing what God has done is refreshing and inspiring to others; a light in times of darkness.

Why should you share your testimony?It's a question most of us have, a question we've asked ourselves time and again. The answer, however, is simple - To give glory to God

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven” Matthew 10: 32-33

“And every tongue, acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:11

When we testify to the things that God has done in our lives, it is like unto a form of praise and worship. It turns everyone’s attention to the Lord and shows them his greatness. When we testify to his name, we also appreciate His goodness in our lives. It’s a nice way of saying ‘thank you’ for all that He does for us.

Just imagine, you do something special for someone and expect a thank you or a kind gesture but instead that person does not respond to your goodness. Wouldn’t you feel hurt? In the same way, when God does favors and works marvelous things in your lives, you must appreciate his goodness and testify to his holy name.

In addition, recounting your testimony humbles you as when you tell of God’s grace and mercy in your life it will remind you of where your life would be if not for God’s matchless grace and mercy.

INSPIRE OTHERS:

Your Christian testimony might just be the very answer to someone’s problem. It may be just what someone needs to weather their toughest storms.

We've all been through trials and many of the battles that God has brought us through are being fought by other Christians. When they read or hear of your victory through Christ they will know that He can perform the same miracles in their lives. The faith in the Lord that you evoke in them can pull them through.

BUILD YOUR FAITH:

If you are going through a trial one of the best ways to build your faith is to think of something God has already brought you through. It reminds you of his faithfulness in the past and gives you the strength to have faith in the future.

Our lives should be a continuous testimony to remind ourselves of how faithful He has been and how far He has brought you.

The apostles boldly testified in the name of Jesus. In Acts 1:8 God’s tells us “You will be my witnesses” and in saying so, directs us to testify of Christ. The Holy Spirit empowers us to testify of Christ just as he did with Peter. The Holy Spirit will take charge of us, our hearts, thoughts and mouths. People have to discover that our Christianity from our Christian speech and conduct.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” Romans 10: 9-10

Our Faith urges us to testify of Christ.

His name is above all names.

Through his name you are saved.

In his name, you are blessed.

Be not afraid, take heart, be of good cheer, pray boldly, live boldly, testify boldly of the Savior so that many others may also call upon his name and be eternally saved.

So testify. Do not tarry brothers and sisters; help someone find the faith to cling to God when everything and everyone around them says they’re already beaten. Give credit where credit is due; bring glory to God by proclaiming His matchless grace to the whole world.

Clyne Cardoz

HSI Media

clyne.hsimt@gmail.com

Learning to love those you loathe!

2011-10-17T13:09:00.000+04:00

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.”-Lewis B. Smedes

I’m sure all of us have people in our lives that we hate, dislike and/or love to avoid whenever possible. The reasons for this could be many- though the most popular one is the fact that they would have hurt us somewhere along the way. To hurt someone however, is a 2 way road. The human tendency is to hurt those who hurt us- this may not be hurting them with words or physically hurting them, but even ignoring the person who hurt you or backstabbing and gossiping about them can very much be termed as hurting . How did Jesus deal with the people who hurt him?

Jesus’ walk to Calvary. Take a moment to picture it. Surrounded by multitudes of people who were all ready to hurt Jesus, He saw it through to the end. The hurt he faced was not just limited to words. He faced physical brutality as well- He was spat on, slapped, stripped of his clothes, teased, lashed a countless number of times.. And he held his ground, walked the path and did not even protest. If this wasn’t Jesus loving those who hated him, what other explanation is there?

Jesus loved us- the sinners that we all are, enough to give up his life for us. Jesus loved the people that nailed him to the cross enough for Him to ask His Heavenly Father, to “forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Refer to Luke 23:34).

If Jesus could love so endlessly, why can we not strive to love those who we try so hard to hate? It all boils down to forgiveness. To forgive another, is a very difficult task. When we are unforgiving, we store up a lot of hatred and revenge in our hearts and this leads to unhappiness, depression, anxiety attacks, loneliness and unkindness towards others. Once we forgive, we find that this weight is lifted from our lives. We are able to love again- we are free!

Looking at the Word of God, in Matthew 18:21, Jesus says we should forgive "seventy times seven". Again in Matthew 18:23-34, Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as one which is open to those who forgive, and says that all those who do not forgive are handed over to the torturers. It is important to note that even when Jesus was teaching the apostles how to pray, He taught them to pray that they be forgiven as they forgive (Refer to Matthew 6:12). In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus says, "If you forgive the faults of others, your Heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you."

Let us bring to mind all those people who have hurt us in any way, and those we may have hurt as well. Take time to forgive them. Learning to love those you loathe starts and ends with forgiveness.

Olivia Pereira

HSI Media

Olivia.hsimt@gmail.com

Dream Talk- A testimony of God speaking to me in a dream.

2011-10-16T11:54:00.000+04:00

Proverbs 13:12 says, "When dreams come true at last, there is life and joy."

All of us have dreams in our sleep. Some dreams we remember, some we forget. Some dreams can be very pleasant and some very scary. I was never one to dwell much on my dreams. I quickly dismissed dreams as the bi-product of the mind trying to do general housekeeping of the memory. Except for this particular dream I had about two years ago. It was so vivid and played like a movie in my sleep. The next morning I could recall every detail of it. I knew in my heart that this dream had a special spiritual message for me. I also knew from the Bible that God often spoke to people in dreams. Kings even offered great rewards to wise men who would correctly interpret their dreams. I wondered how I would get an interpretation of my dream.

I made a simple decision to ask the Lord for help. It was a working day for me and as I got ready to leave for work, the dream kept playing over and over in my mind. As I got in the car and started to drive, I made a prayer to Jesus: Lord, I believe that you speak to people in dreams. I know that the dream of last night was a special dream and that you have a message for me, but I don’t know how to interpret it. Will you help me? I know you can do this. Can you help me get an interpretation of this dream right now?

As I continued to drive, I could feel in my heart the Lord was speaking to me. He asked me to tell him my dream. So I narrated the dream to him: I am outside in the compound of my childhood home. The compound is full of tall wild grass and weeds. I am scared to go there because instinctively I know that there are dangerous creatures hiding in there. So I go and fetch a sword and start to chop off the wild growth. As I start to clear the area, I see lurking beneath the grass and weeds large green colored snakes, repulsive to sight. Each of them intertwined with the other, about four inches in diameter and five feet in length. They are making slow, lazy movement on the ground beneath. They can see me but are surprisingly unafraid. I try to shoo them away, but they won’t move. I am too afraid to go any closer. And as I try to think of ways to get rid of the ugly creatures, I notice that our neighbor has started a big bonfire in her compound on the other side of the fence that separates our properties. I immediately have an idea. I fetch a long bamboo pole and standing at a safe distance from the snakes I carefully slip the tip of the pole under the belly of the first snake, lift it up and hurl it across the fence into the neighbor’s fire. I do the same with the next snake and the next one, until there all of them are roasted in the bonfire.

The Lord responds, “Good Jaime. You remember the dream well.” “Of course I remember the dream well. How could someone forget a mysterious dream like this? Lord, now you must tell me what it means or I won’t be able to concentrate at work”. “Well”, the Lord continued, “I will not interpret the dream for you. You are going to do it yourself. I will only give you hints.” “Are you sure Lord? I’ve never done anything like this before. What if it is my own mind playing tricks on me? “You have to trust me on this, Jaime. When we are done, you will know. So let’s begin. Carefully consider the scenes and symbols in the dream. Take them one by one and relate them to your life and understand what they mean by connecting them to my Word, the Bible.”

I immediately obeyed and did as the Lord said.

The first scene: I am at my childhood home where I grew up and the compound in full of wild grass and weeds and I feel there are dangerous creatures hiding in there. In the Bible wild grass and weeds stand for something evil. Aha!! There’s the answer. The wild grass and weeds in my compound represents sins and the consequence of sins in my life beginning with my childhood. The second scene: I take a sword and start to clear the weeds. “What does the Sword represent in the Bible, Jaime?” “The sword in the Bible represents the Word of God which is living and active. It is a spiritual weapon.” Bam!! The second answer. Equipped with the knowledge of God’s word I have removed sin from my life. “Lord, what about the ugly, repulsive snakes?” I asked. Ok Lord, I thought to myself, I am getting it now. I need to check what the snakes represent in the Bible. The snake or serpent represents the evil one. Satan. Like the serpent in t the Garden of Eden. So the fat, ugly, green snakes represent Satan and his demons thriving in the midst of my sinful life. At this point, I could feel the hair standing on my hands.

I continued my probe of the dream. “And Lord, why were the snakes were not scared of me? Why did they not run when they saw me and heard me clearing the weeds with the Sword?” The Lord replied, “Because they had been thriving there for many years. No one had ever objected to their presence. They had made a permanent home in your life”.

“And Lord, the bamboo pole, which I used to lift each of the snakes to hurl them over to the other side of the fence. What does that symbolize?” “Can you think of a pole in the Bible Jaime?” “Yes Lord. The Israelites were grumbling in the desert. God was angry with them and allowed poisonous snakes to bite them. They pleaded with Moses to do something about the snakes. God asked Moses to nail a bronze serpent to a pole and raise it up for everyone to see. Anyone who laid their eyes on the bronze serpent nailed to the pole would live”. “I got it Lord. I got it. You are amazing!!!! “The pole represents you Lord. Jesus Christ, my savior who was nailed to cross, represented by the pole. You overcame Satan by your passion and death and resurrection. By the power of the cross of Calvary represented by the pole, I am lifting Satan and his demons one by one out of my life and hurling them into the fire across the fence. The fire, Lord, represents hell, where Satan and his demons ultimately belong.”

By this time I am sobbing like a baby in my car. My first ever dream, interpreted by the Lord himself, showing me that he has freed me from the bondage of sin and given me victory over Satan and his demons. I no longer need to be afraid. He has cleansed me from my sin and given me the hope of eternal life. The dream has been interpreted to such perfection, there was no room for any doubt that it was from God. All of this happened in a span of less than 10 minutes.

Filled with excitement, I immediately called three of my closest spiritual friends and told them about the dream and the amazing interpretation I had received from the Lord in a span of minutes. They were amazed and glorified God. They asked me to write down the dream and the interpretation as a testimony of what the Lord had done for me. Today I share the story publicly to assure my fellow believers that God still speaks to us- in dreams and visions,through His Holy Word, through His anointed servants and sometimes through ordinary people. We simply need to be in tune with Him.

Remain in the state of grace. Connect with him in prayer. For God, all things are possible. All praise and honor to Him forever and ever.

Jaime DeMelo
HSI Media