kosarajuraj

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God" - Hebrews 4:5''   Billy Graham says, we are the most entertained generation in history.  Television sets pull in hundreds of channels; professional sports teams and pop music groups take in (and spend) billions of dollars; million s of people own second and third homes for vacations; our children are upset if they don't get the latest computer games for Christmas. I believe this frantic search for entertainment is a symptom of something deeper.  Some have suggested we are the most bored generation in history--and perhaps they are right.  Down inside is an empty place in our hearts--a restlessness, a search for inner peace and tranquility--that will not go away.  The irony is, the more we try to satisfy it, the less content we become.      I know little about nuclear fission or uranium and other elements used in making nuclear explosives.  Yet I believe in the atomi...

Suffering is the common lot of the human race.  We see pictures on television of people ravaged by war or famine, and our hearts are touched (as they should be).  But all around you are people who suffer in others ways: loneliness, fear, rejection, disability, grief, poverty, discrimination, addiction, or a multitude of problems. But God has compassion on us--He suffers with us.  He knows what we are going through, and He cares.  The greatest act of compassion in the history of the human race was the Cross, for there Christ suffered for us. He endured sin's penalty so we would not have to endure it ourselves. Now He calls us to have compassion on others, for His sake--suffer with them, and to point them to the One who suffered for them.  The Bible says, "Be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble" (I Peter 3:8) - Billy Graham “Neither death nor life,….nor things present not things to come,….shall be able to separate us from th...

The year 2014 marks the 13th anniversary of the horrific attacks by al-Qaeda terrorists on the U.S. Memories of the day that saw thousands of deaths and injuries and loss of pivotal infrastructure will always remain engraved in the hearts of Americans. Sept. 11, 2001 was one of the saddest days in the history of the world. On Thursday, the world will remember the day that changed the life of millions.      This date of September 11 will be engraved on the memories of people everywhere for generations to come.  On that terrible day when terrorists commandeered several passenger planes and killed thousands of innocent people in New York and Washington, we began to realize the true depths of evil in the human heart, and the uncertainty and fragility of life itself.      What lessons would God teach us from such an appalling tragedy? I confess I don't know the full answer.  Many people, I know, for the first time faced the sha...

Choosing to trust God is so daily, isn't it? When I only looked at the "what-ifs" of Tom’s job situation – the possible unemployment, the grueling process of job-hunting, the financial strain unemployment would bring, and the uncertainty of the economy – my faith and God-confidence shook and waned. Fear and doubt knocked on my heart, suitcases in hand, wanting to move in and take up residence. On the other hand, when I fixed my eyes on God, looked at His character and at the ways He had brought us through hard times in the past, my faith was strengthened. Courage, confidence and joy knocked on my heart! This reminds me of Chuck Swindoll’s  article’’ Fighting the Fast Fade’’ he says....  Jesus illustrated this struggle so vividly in Mark 4. Do you remember? The seed is carefully sown. Yet shortly after God's Word is heard, the enemy of our souls, Satan himself, comes and snatches away the biblical insights that have been deposited in our hearts. Is...

Billy Graham once said: Our modern philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency has caused many to believe that we can make the grade without God. “Religion,” they argue, “may be all right for certain emotional people, but you can’t beat a man who believes in himself.” But this self-confident generation has produced more alcoholics, more dope addicts, more criminals, more wars, more broken homes, more assaults, more embezzlements, more murders, and more suicides than any other generation that ever lived. It is time for all of us to take stock of our failures, blunders, and costly mistakes. It is about time that we are putting less confidence in ourselves and more trust and faith in God Paul writes, 'Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?...If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ' (Galatians 1:10 NIV). A true servant of God is content to work quietly in the shadows. They know that in Heaven God will openly reward people we...

Billy Graham once said our modern philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency has caused many to believe that we can make the grade without God. “Religion,” they argue, “may be all right for certain emotional people, but you can’t beat a man who believes in himself.” But this self-confident generation has produced more alcoholics, more dope addicts, more criminals, more wars, more broken homes, more assaults, more embezzlements, more murders, and more suicides than any other generation that ever lived. It is time for all of us to take stock of our failures, blunders, and costly mistakes. It is about time that we are putting less confidence in ourselves and more trust and faith in God I wonder if you've ever thought about the incredible number of messages that rain down on us every day; television ads, e-mails, phone calls, magazines, junk mail. Videos, billboards, conversations—the list is almost endless.      How many of those shape our thinking?...

In life, we have a choice. We can expose the weaknesses of others, or we can look away and help cover it up. Likewise, we can expose the goodness of others or look away and ignore it. All too often it seems that people uncover the bad and bury the good. Strange though it may seem, these are often the people most difficult to love. Why? Because they feel unwanted, they are convinced that their lives are wasted, useless, and a bother. They wrestle with inferiority, thoughts of suicide, a twisted self-image, and a loss of self-respect. This results in all sorts of unattractive and unappealing responses. Because they entertain such a repulsive self-image, it is only natural that they act repulsively. This unpleasant lifestyle isolates them even more, of course, "confirming" their gutter-level opinion of themselves. What a sad, sad cycle! Instead of loving these people, we usually label them. Instead of caring, we criticize. Instead of getting next to them, we r...