Live for Him

God is reminding you today that if you want to live for Him, you must live with Jesus. Take quality time with Jesus every day. Talk to Him honestly about the joys and frustrations of life. Ask Him to reveal to you what He is doing in your life, how He wants to use you today, then commit yourself to moving with His purpose. Relational time with Jesus every day will revolutionise your Christian life!

Hearing the voice of God means that you have taken the first step on the road of faith that is going to be rough and crooked and up and down. Hearing the voice of God for the first time often brings confusion and conviction.

It also brings doubt. I guess the first reaction as I faced the new day was, "Did this really happen to me?" Perhaps I dreamed it, or maybe it was just a wild thought that floated through my imagination. I just couldn't acknowledge the words that I had heard as my words. They didn't say what I would say. They were contrary to what I believed.

It is possible that the man would show a great achievement and capacity. It is also possible that he might have a tremendous knowledge and information too. But it is still a possibility that he might be totally ignorant about himself. The reason being that until the man suffers a great deal, he does not understand. Suffering makes him introspective. And suffering alone teaches him the truth."Bible says, "Suffering makes man perfect."It is very easy to blame the system and others for any wrong and ill in it. It is very easy and convenient to say, "what shall I do? The system is rotten. One can’t help!"The most un-easy and offending statement in the Bible is that everybody is a sinner. It cannot be agreed upon for the simple reason that we generally measure ourselves against those who are falling short of our own ideals. We ourselves decide in a reflex manner the measurement criteria. And those generally are selected which suit us. Our spouse, our friends and colleagues, know our own moral weakness. When we ourselves acknowledge them, that is the beginning of self-realization.

However if you suddenly find a lump in your breast, or your spouse says he never loved you, or you get fired from your job, or your child is seriously ill, every tactic you've ever employed and every skill you've ever mastered will get you nowhere...The Bible says, "...Have a sane estimate of your [abilities]..." (Romans 12:3 PHPS)...once you realise you aren't perfect...you can exhale and start the task of being good enough...God is saying here, “If you will repent of your sin, I will repent of the judgment I had planned.” That is a promise to every one of us today. Just because you may have failed in the past doesn’t mean that God is finished with you. Are you ready for some good news on the threshold of a new year?  You can have a brand new start!  There’s hope for you. Our God is the God of the second chance. Your life may be marred. Your life may have gotten off track because of some hidden sin or some stubbornness when you refused to yield to God.  But He is saying , “I don’t hold grudges. I am the God of the second chance.”

Life is growth. It is about hard work and change, yet the end result is beautiful. Though growth and change, however, are not easy. This is what so many people resist. This is what so many of us fail to choose every minute of every day. We have a choice to make – we can work on ourselves, correct our faults, improve our virtues, adapt, change, develop, and grow. That is choosing life. Or we can choose the easier mode of stagnation, the comfort of staying inside our comfort zone, or not doing the hard work to make our dreams a reality. This is what we call death. No movement, no growth, and no change.

Sadly, so many people get to the end of their lives and realize that they never really lived. They never took any risks or rocked the boat too much. They never followed their dreams or spent enough time with their loved ones. This is why Scripture needs to come along and encourage us to choose life. It’s so much easier to pass up that choice and to simply maintain the status quo. However, easier is not better. The only life worth living is the one that is truly lived.

In closing, I would like to remind you to....

Serve God but don't expect it to be a ticket to wealth, success, or health. God does not promise to protect good people from evil in this world, but he does promise that ultimately all evil will be abolished. Those who have remained faithful through their trials will experience great rewards in the age to come (Matthew 5:11-12; Revelation 21:1-7; 22:1-21).

Blessings,

Raj Kosaraju