kosarajuraj

“Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and yo...

But you 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 made for you from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives. ( 1 Peter 2:9-12 The Message) God has a purpose and plan for each of our lives. The greatest thing we can do is to find that purpose and live it out. We can trust his purpose in us because it is based on his wisdom and love. As long as we seek his will, we're not going to do anything that can ultimately spoil his purpose in us. Yes, we may at times stray...

Don’t become discouraged. Despondency says things are hopeless, and life is aimless. Jesus says there is hope beyond suffering and the grave. There is a way out of all difficulties. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). He will never let you down. He will not forsake you. No matter how many times you see the hand of God working in your life or experience His provision, it is easy to lose sight of God’s love and faithfulness. If you only focus on your current difficulty or discouragement, you may lose sight of His blessings and promises. Many times I have found that many people will reject Christ without even knowing what He says. They will reject the Bible without reading it, even saying the Bible is full of contradictions. But when asked what so-called contradictions in the Bible they have a problem with, they can never identify them. That is because they haven't read the Bible. They refuse to believe the truth, and instead they believe the lie. ...

No one enriches hell more than false teachers. No one finds greater joy in drawing people away from truth and leading them into error. False teachers have been present in every era of human history, they have always been a plague and have always been in the business of providing counterfeit truth. While their circumstances may change, their methods remain consistent. God has given us a free will. He will not force us to believe something we don't want to believe. He will come to us and seek to convince us of the truth of the Scripture. The Holy Spirit will work on our hearts. But we have the ability to resist Him. If you harden your heart again and again, there will come a day when God will strengthen you in your own resolve. Here is what the Bible says: Exposing the False Teachers- In his exposure of these false teachers, Paul gives us six identifying marks that can guide us to discern the presence of "wolves in sheep's clothing" in ou...

To be vulnerable enough to put your life in someone else's hands. I will not lie to you...  sometimes it is terrifying! What if I put my entire future and the future of my family in God's hands alone and nothing happens? Well now, that is what real trust is about, isn't it? The Lord has always been there to see our struggles and to reach out with an answer. I know that if you can just throw yourself onto the rock that He will surely catch you. There is a reason why we are called as believers to live by faith! It is truly the secret to walking in every blessing of God. Walk in faith. Allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to trust someone else more than you trust your own great abilities. My friend Brian shared a real life story. Recently, his friend's family of six made a 1,200-mile trek to Texas and back to visit relatives there. They live in Indiana and have four children, so these trips are both exhausting and fun. But there’s also sadness in thes...

 "What happens after death?" Within the Christian faith, there is a significant amount of confusion regarding what happens after death. Some hold that after death, everyone “sleeps” until the final judgment, after which everyone will be sent to heaven or hell. Others believe that at the moment of death, people are instantly judged and sent to their eternal destinations. Still others claim that when people die, their souls/spirits are sent to a “temporary” heaven or hell, to await the final resurrection, the final judgment, and then the finality of their eternal destination. So, what exactly does the Bible say happens after death? First, for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that after death believers’ souls/spirits are taken to heaven, because their sins are forgiven by having received Christ as Savior (John 3:16, 18, 36). For believers, death is to be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23). H...

We are facing challenges economically, morally, spiritually and politically. People, including unbelievers, are asking, "Where is God?" In times like these, it is vitally important that we are vigilant in reaching out in love with the Truth of Christ—not just here, but around the world. We are living in an age where sin is portrayed as a mere illness of the body or mind; when sin is denied or laughed off, when sin is rationalized as merely doing one's own thing, or doing what comes naturally. But a belief in the Holy God and respect for the authority of his word demands that adultery be recognized and acknowledged for what it is . . . sin. The seriousness of the sin of adultery can be seen in several ways. Under the law of Moses the penalty was death by stoning. (Deuteronomy 22:21 ff, John 8:4,5). Again, the only ground that God gave for divorcing one's mate was sexual immorality. He said, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of ...

I understand how life is getting more and more difficult for young Christians. We are demonized in the media, called “outdated” by society, and often caught in the crossfire of politics. In this environment it is so tempting to just shut our beliefs behind a door and keep it all to ourselves, but that is not what God has commanded us to do. Like it says in Luke 8, our faith was not meant to be kept secret, but to be held high proudly so that the world may see it. We have a family in Christ, one we should never deny. "I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their sl...

Gossip is idle talk or rumor about the personal or private affairs of others. It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts, views and slander. This term is used pejoratively by its reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted, and it also describes idle chat, a rumor of personal, or trivial nature. The term is sometimes used to specifically refer to the spreading of dirt and misinformation, as (for example) through excited discussion of scandals. Some newspapers carry "gossip columns" which detail the social and personal lives of celebrities or of élite members of certain communities. Gossip is inherently a "false witness" of slander. Gossip and slander orbit around each other. Slander is the lie, and gossip the spreading of lies. Attractive gossip will not always be completely incorrect--it may well have some bearing on the truth. But it will always have a perverted "twist" to it tha...