YOU ARE THE MASTERPIECE OF GOD

Ephesians 2:10

Bible teaches that we are the workmanship of God. When we study the creation of God, all the creations other than man, God created them with His Words. God Spoke and they created. But when God created man, God went further ahead, and put special care in creation process. God himself took mud from the earth and made man with His own hand. Why God put so much care in creating man. Because Man reveals the image and likeness of God.

Dear brother and sister you carry the image and likeness of God. Bible says God gave man authority to reign over every other creations of God. You are the one who experienced the touch of heavenly father while creating. You are very special to your creator, father God. He is your author. Today may be you are experiencing a rejection in your life, may be in your official life, may be in your family life, or may be in your church life. You might have got rejected by many of your loved ones. But dear child of God you are so special and precious to your creator.

God find us so precious and special to Him so that he paid a price for us and brought us. For that God send His only begotten son to this world. Jesus came to this earth for you and me. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1: 19) .You so worthy that God could purchase you by sacrificing His own son.

God created you in His own image and likeness. You are the one created with the abilities and wisdom of God. You are the one whom carries the abilities and wisdom of God. Today many of the people around you might have said, you are not able, you are a failure, you cannot succeed in your life, or you will never prosper. But my loving child of God, today I want to remind you that you are the one who God says who you are. And God says you are created with heavenly abilities and heavenly wisdom where no human abilities and wisdom can understand this. World says you are a failure because worlds wisdom cannot understand the heavenly abilities and heavenly wisdom you carry.

In your daily life, if you want or manifest the Supernatural abilities and heavenly wisdom, just ask Jesus to be with you. Bible says I can do all things who Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 5:13).If Jesus is with you, you are victorious. And Jesus said I am with you till the end of the earth (Mathew 28:20)

Today I want to remind you dear brother and sister, you are never a failure or a rejection and you carry the likeness and image of God.

Dear father, today I pray for those who are feeling lonely, rejected and failure. Father, thank you for making us victorious through your son Jesus Christ. In Jesus Name, I declare over the life of such people that they are not alone, Jesus is with them. They are not rejected, they are precious and special to you Lord. They are not a failure, they are carrying your abilities and wisdom. Lord, help us to enjoy your grace in our difficult times. Let us walk in your presence which will turn our brokenness and failures to a blessed and victorious life ahead. In Jesus name Amen.

Dear reader, you are a blessing in Christ Jesus. If you have not yet given your life to Jesus, I want to remind you that Jesus Loves You, Jesus Died for You and Still the Cross is waiting for you.

Blessings in Jesus Name

Earthly Challenges and Heavenly Guarantee

If “true Godly believers” never have to face pain, loss, hardship, difficulty or failure, can you imagine, despite our Christian label, where our carnal nature would take us – to a place of worldly fulfillment, misplaced pride and bigoted altruism, in that order.

During testy phases of our lives, how many of us can honestly say from the bottom of our hearts what Job said “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Two lessons here - on eternal need and earthly needs:

1)    On the eternal aspect we can be rest assured. We are believers by faith. Despite our harder and sometimes rough journey, our eternal need (gift of salvation) is sealed and it is granted by God's grace and by our faith - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

2)      On wordly needs – when we face prolonged pain with no apparent end, our carnal egoistic pride and "controlling" behavior gets broken and decimated. “A broken and contrite spirit, God will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). This will lead to being in the center of God’s will and that will look along these lines…..as written in Job 33:23-26,

”……Yet if there is an angel at their side,
    a messenger, one out of a thousand,
    sent to tell them how to be upright,
²⁴ and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
    ‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
    I have found a ransom for them—
²⁵ let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;
    let them be restored as in the days of their youth’—
²⁶ then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,
    they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
    he will restore them to full well-being.

Our faith and trust on the one True and Living God our Father (Abba) in Heaven is sufficient. He has met our eternal need and will meet our earthly needs. Will He not be sufficient for us?

You are the Potter and I am the Clay

Jeremiah 18 alluringly illustrates God's relationship and His plan with Israel. Prophet Jeremiah was asked to go a Potter's House, he could see a potter working at the wheel with a disfigured figure of clay in his hands. The potter formed it another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him (Jeremiah 18:3-4). LORD asked Jeremiah,  “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?”

Since I am a passionate artist, I have a decent experience in dealing with clay. In order to create a masterpiece one should have good quality of clay, a well conditioned potter's wheel, right temperature and most importantly, a pair of skilled hands and a heart to deal with 'mess'. 

Clay by definition is a stiff, sticky fine-grained earth, that can be molded when wet, and is dried and baked to make bricks, pottery, and ceramics. The clay should be made with right amount of soil and water, not too tight or loose to make it difficult to be transformed into a good artwork. Various verses in the scripture says that pride is one of the roadblocks that prevents a man to his way to God. Also being lukewarm in faith also will not help in the spiritual journey to God. Per my personal experience, my spiritual growth is directly proportional to fellowship of Godly brothers and sisters.

Clay needs to be kneaded before it it thrown to the potter's wheel. It is a pivotal process to get rid of the air bubbles and smoothen the texture. In our spiritual life every believer goes through various trials, tribulations, afflictions, denials, sometimes even persecution,but that does not mean that we are off our Father's hands. Small or big, troubles are gruesome and it is unavoidable in this fallen world. But our Father has sovereign authority in our life -  both earthly and eternal. Also, He has the best plans for all of us in store (Jeremiah 29:11) Given that, there is a primary requirement -  trust in God with all of your heart!

God has given us the freedom of choice in this world, but being submissive to His hands (His will) will accelerate the process of being a fine artwork. Achieving this mindset is not an easy process, and requires disciplined prayer life, knowledge of the Word and above all knowledge of our Father. But this offers the freedom from fear, anxieties, dissatisfaction, disappointments and every other worldly evil.

 Genesis 2:7 says God created man out of dust and made He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. (Yes we all are breathing God's breath, yay)! Before God's touch the clay was such a useless mess,but post His artistic work, it has become His masterpiece. 

Kindly take a moment to examine ourselves, are we the clay in the potter's hands? May God's will be done in all of your lives. Stay abundantly blessed!

Have better knowledge of God

If we want to walk in victory in your spiritual journey, we need to increase in the knowledge of God. How can we increase in the knowledge of God? It cannot be achieved by any human efforts. Knowledge of God is a revelation reveled by the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit).  That’s why Apostle Paul is praying for the believers in Ephesus that “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (Ephesians 1:17). 

We also need to pray for Holy Spirit to fill us with the understanding and revelation about God, so that we can know our father God in better way. Increasing in the knowledge of God includes what is the ultimate purpose of God in creation, what are the hope of His calling on us, what is the Glory of inheritance God kept for us etc. Understanding these will help us to focus on God at the time of tribulations and struggles in this life.

Bible doesn’t promise a problem free or struggle free life in this world, rather Bible promise a victorious life in this world through Christ Jesus. So if we grow more in understanding God, we can walk more victoriously in this world.

In Matthew 14:22-33, demonstrates how we can have a victorious life while facing the challenges of daily struggles. Disciples were fighting against heavy waves and one moment they understood that none of their human efforts can save them. They had no hope in front of them. They were frightened and crying. In that moment Jesus was coming to them waking on water. In any moment of your life where you feel helpless, there is God who is for you and ready to save at the times of trouble.

We can see that the way Peter approached this situation is different from other 11 disciples who were in the boat. When 11 disciples in the boat saw Jesus coming towards them walking on the waves, they were expecting Jesus to reach them fast, enter into boat, clam the storm and save them. The understanding 11 disciples had about Jesus is that Jesus can deliver them by solving the problem. So they were frightened and crying till Jesus entered the boat and calmed the storm.

But when Peter saw Jesus was walking on the waves which were frightening him, Peter realized that If Jesus can walk on the waves, I can also walk. He saw a Jesus who can make him walk victoriously on tribulations. So he didn’t wait till Jesus entered the boat and clam the storm, but started walking over the storm frightening him.

Dear Child of God, how deeply we know about the power of God. He is a God who can give you a victorious walk over the present tribulations you are facing now. May be you are praying and waiting for a deliverance. But today onward, do not wait for the deliverance, you start walk on the storms you are facing in your life. Jesus is with you. You will never be drowned in. But you will walk victoriously.

In Jesus name I pray that Holy Spirit will enlighten your knowledge about God more deep so that you will walk victoriously over very situations and struggles which are frightening you. Amen