Taught by the Lord 

Bible Reading: 2 Kings 18: 1-16

When a baby is born, everyone quickly tries to see who the baby resembles: the father or the mother. As the child grows, we try to identify even traits and trace them to the parents or grandparents! We want our children to inherit our good qualities, not bad ones. I read a joke sometime back. It seems a teenager asked her mother what she had done as a teenager, and the mother could not answer that question! 

It is sad to see Isaac repeating the mistake of Abraham by calling Rebekah, his wife, his sister (Genesis 20:2; 26:7). We do not want our children to repeat the mistakes we have made in our lives! &nbs...

God who is near!

Bible Reading: Psalm 34:11-19

The heavenly vision that Isaiah received is very different from the vision received by Ezekiel.  We read about Isaiah's vision in Isaiah chapter 6 and about Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel chapter 1.  

In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple!  In his vision, Ezekiel saw the Lord's glory on wheels.  This is very significant because until now, every vision of God's throne has been fixed in the Temple in Jerusalem!  

Ezekiel him...

The Warnings of God  

Bible Reading: 2 Kings 17:1-23

Elijah was a fearless prophet of the God of Israel sent by God to warn the people of Israel of their spiritual failure.  They had turned from the living God who had brought them out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk as inheritance and worshipped idols.  That is why they lost their inheritance!  

This did not happen suddenly without warning.  God sent many prophets to Israel for centuries, asking them to repent and return to the Lord.  But Israel would not listen and wilfully continued in their sin.  Finally, God allowed the Assyrians to crush the rebell...

Ask, Seek, and Knock

Bible Reading: Matthew 7:7-12

Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).  Many have buil...

The Man used by God! 

Bible Reading: Proverbs 3:1-10 

Moses was a great leader. 

He led the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years! Now, after the death of Moses, we see God talking to Joshua. The difficult task of conquering the promised land and dividing it among the tribes lay ahead, and God made Joshua the leader! 

For many years, Joshua was content to be Moses' assistant. The Bible says, "…  his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle" (Exodus 33:11). The Bible calls Joshua the servant of Moses. Joshua did not...

Caleb

Caleb's story begins in Numbers 13.  After the Israelites have been delivered from slavery in Egypt and brought to the edge of Canaan, Moses chooses one person from each tribe to check out the land that God has promised them.  Among them is Caleb, from the tribe of Judah, and Joshua, from the tribe of Ephraim.  The Bible says, "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went, and his seed shall possess it" (Numbers 14:24).  If there was ever a Bible character that displayed a proper attitude toward God and His Word, it was Caleb.  When ten of the twelve spies brought an evil, negative report,...

Must I go Empty handed?

Bible Reading:  Ephesians 5: 15-21

The hymn ‘Must I Go, and Empty-Handed?’ was written by George Coles Stebbins (1846-1945) after hearing a story from Rev. A.G. Upham about a young man who was about to die.  The story goes that the young man was a Christian for only a month and was upset that he had so little time to serve the Lord.  On his deathbed, he said, ‘I am not afraid to die; Jesus has saved me now, but, oh!  Must I go empty-handed?’

My mother loved this song too.  It was this song that motivated my parents into outreach activities in a village near Neyveli.  My mother always felt...

Love of Christ!

Bible Reading: Luke 14:1-6

My mother, Indrani Asirvatham, was a pianist and church organist who loved singing.  She loved this song very dearly.   In the late sixties, the salvation movement swept across India, and she accepted Christ in her late thirties.  She loved many songs, and this song, "Love Lifted Me," written by English-American lyricist James Rowe and set to music by American organist Howard E. Smith, became her testimony. 

Love lifted me!  Love lifted me!

When nothing else could help, Love lifted me

Bringing up Children!

Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 2:12-26

Our youngest granddaughter, Nicole, is in the age of imitating her parents and teachers.  She plays 'School' with her dolls and pretends to be on office calls just like our son and daughter-in-law.  She imitates in great detail.  It is amazing to watch her play like that.  You can understand many things about her school and her parents from the way she imitates them!

Parenting has two sides.  

One is showing the children how they should live by life and example.  Remember, our children are constantly watc...

Break up your Fallow Ground

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 3:6 – 4:4

Jeremiah was a prophet from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah (626 BC), until after Jerusalem's fall and destruction of Solomon's Temple in 586 BC.  This period covered the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.  God sent Jeremiah with warning messages for Judah.  In Jeremiah 3:6-7 we see God calling Judah more treacherous than Israel because even after seeing the punishment Israel suffered in the hands of the Assyrians for their immorality, idolatry, and disobedience, Judah did not repent and change her ways.  

The g...