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A star was risen as the sign of the birth of Christ.
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Mathew 2:2 )

The wise men considered this sign so seriously that they didn’t give up for two long years until they reached baby Jesus. The star went before them! But on the other hand, Jewish scholars who were around couldn’t find Him even though they were deeply in search of the prophecies concerning the incarnation of Christ!

That is why Jesus said:
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5;39,40)

We know that this same Christ, who was found in a manger of Bethlehem as a baby, is going to come again on the clouds as the King of Kings, accompanied by the great trumpet. In the Bible, there are more prophecies about the signs of the second coming of Christ than about His birth in the flesh. Among all the signs, the most obvious sign that Jesus Himself prophesied was that the Jewish people will be scattered all over the world and that they will be gathered and returned to their land before His return. Nearly impossible thing to happen! But after 20 centuries it happened and they became a nation in 1948! President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has a very important significance in prophecies concerning the trumpet of our Lord! The morning star of that GREAT CHRISTMAS we await for is rising up in our hearts!

“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19 )

The day of the Lord – ours too – is about to break. Let’s be awake for our groom’s return!

– Thomaskutty Bro

The day when the angels announced the Great Joy coming to the world for all men(Luke 2.10), the day when the kings of different tribes and tongues lined up gold, frankincense and myrrh, the day when the shepherds followed the star to the manger where our Great Saviour was born. What a glorious day that was! The last resort that heaven had to reconcile men to God was the perfect Lamb that was slain; the worthy sacrifice that made us have fellowship with Father God again, the fellowship that Adam had in the beginning.

Great joy is what multitudes had when Jesus was walking with them on earth. They often forgot their need. Peter fell at the feet of Jesus when his boat was full. Multitudes forgot their hunger while listening to him. They were all filled with joy, not happiness. Happiness is based on a condition and it’s temporary but joy is something divine and only Jesus can give it to you. In John 15 Jesus says, My Joy I give you and if you obey my commandments your joy will be made full. It is that joy which flows out of you that words can’t describe but in His presence His peace overwhelms your whole spirit, soul and body. In 1 Peter 1:8, Peter calls it inexpressible Joy. 1 John 1:8 says that the joy may be made full with the fellowship with His Son. That’s the secret to this joy- the fellowship with the Son.
Even as believers, we find ourselves in a state of unhappiness and anxiety thinking of our needs and situations. But do we have a daily fellowship with our Lord? In 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says, God is faithful, that He has called us to a fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We have been called to have fellowship. God sent his Son on that Great Christmas Day so that man can have fellowship with Him again and be filled with Joy. You will forget your needs, your situations and you will enjoy that joy that comes through His Fellowship.
Is that all? Does it just make us forget our problems? Of course not! It says, My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). 1 Corinthians 2:9 says that no eyes has seen, no ear has heard nor any heart has perceived of what God has kept for those who love Him.
Your Love for the Lord will grow when you have fellowship with him.

Let this Christmas be a time where you decide not to just celebrate it as a festive day but decide in your heart to start a fellowship (Time Alone with God) with our Lord which will fill you with joy. Let the Joy of Christmas be not just for a day but for all the days of your life until everlasting.

– Raunaq & Sara

Looking into the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we can see a few recorded incidences of Jesus while here on earth.
Jesus never did anything for his personal gain and never had an agenda of His own. As we can see from the first miracle in the wedding banquet till the last miracle, He did nothing for Himself. He was looking out for what He could do for the betterment of His people.
Even His will was not His own but it was the Father’s will in His life. Similarly let not our focus be on our own selfish ambitions but instead let our lives be a blessing for others, to be selfless and not selfish. We will not gain anything if we run for this world but when we lose our lives for Christ, we gain and every good things in life start following us.
So, be a blessing.That is what we were called to do.

– Raunaq & Sara

When we accidentally touch a hot surface, our immediate “response” will be to take our hand away from it or it’s our response to stimuli.
The same way, when we face a challenge in our life, let our first response be in Faith. Many a times, what happens is even before we face the issue, our first response is in fear and we approach the challenge with that state of mind.
When we read the bible, when Jesus encountered a situation where there was a lack of something, His first response was in faith and then He thanked Father God. The result of the challenge was 12 baskets full of bread and fish.
When Paul and Silas were in prison, the first response was in faith. They worshipped and began to glorify God. As we read, there was an earthquake and their faith-response led to a supernatural miracle. Worry and fear arise when our focus is on the situation than the Word of God. What does the Word of God say?
It says,
– If God is for us who can be against us?( Romans 8:31)
– I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me( Philippians 4:13)
– And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
-A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. (Psalms 91:7)

Have the Word of God inscribed in your heart and minds. Let the Holy Spirit lead you, only to faith responses. When our response to a situation is in faith, a supernatural way will follow.

– Raunaq & Sara

A pilot buckles himself with the seat belt , looks straight and concentrates on the runway before take off. We too are in a course of flying high, but we also have to be buckled!! This is to be done in our mind. Don’t allow our mind to be worried, tossed with the cares of life, depressed with the words and actions of people around us. Our enemy satan brings all these to our minds to keep us from flying high. So be buckled, have unaltered attention, look straight to the Lord and His Word and take off to your destiny.

Peter puts it in this way :
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
I Peter 1:13 NKJV

– Thomaskutty Bro

Jesus said in John 15:5 that He is the Vine and we are the branches. The Life is in the Vine but the fruits are always seen in the branches and we are those branches. The branches have to take the Life from the Vine for them to be fruitful.

Philippians 2:13 says, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Imagine that! God Himself is working in each one of us! Do you know why He works in us?

It’s because He wants to show the world through us that Jesus was sent by God and that God loves you and me just as He loved Jesus.
For this, we didn’t choose Him, but He chose us and He knows where to take us.

We need to do only one thing – kill the works of our flesh and live in the Spirit. No one can stop us because the One who is working in me is not a man, but God. Just walk with the Holy Spirit and we will see His capability in our inability, His strength in our weakness and the abundance of His grace in us always.

So, let’s take a decision that we will be aligned with God’s plan and surely we will see the fruit of His work in us because God is working in us!

– Tangu Bro (Dr. Mathew Kuruvilla)

Initially when God gave the manna to the Israelites, what an exciting thing it was! Such a divine, delicious and ready- to-eat food was packed, encased in ice and God would rain it down from heaven into their camp daily! The second day the excitement lightened and gradually over the years it diminished but God provided the manna for forty years without fail. (Exodus 16 )
The miraculous manna, which no one else in the world had ever tasted became their staple food and eventually the second generation was born into this. Since it was all over the camp, maybe they even grew up ‘playing cricket’ on it and it’s significance slowly was overlooked. Later they started grumbling saying, “ there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”(‭‭Numbers‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭)

In the gospel of John, Jesus says that those who ate the manna that Moses provided died, but that it is His Father who provides the real manna from heaven, and the one who eats will never die! He also declared, “I am the bread of life…” (John 6:32- 35)
So, the never ending eternal life that a believer has received through Christ is the real manna. Even a billionaire cannot achieve the surety of this everlasting life by giving his money as a ransom for his sins. But we have that guarantee and this hope that we have received is our priceless Manna.
When we received Jesus, we experienced tremendous peace in our hearts and also got the hope of eternal life. On the day we had received this joy and peace we were so excited. But we have to search ourselves whether that excitement, peace , hope and thankfulness is diminishing as time passes. Are we too burdened with our earthly matters that we have forgotten the Manna?
1 Corinthians 10.10 says we should not grumble like the Israelites did. Let’s remember the Manna without grumbling. God commanded Moses to place the golden pot which had the manna in the arc of the covenant as a memorial for ever. ( Hebrews 9.4; Exodus 16.32-34)
Now God has kept this imperishable Manna forever in our hearts and let us enjoy it always and be thankful to God for it. So, forget not the Manna !

– Thomaskutty Bro

Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, says that faith is activated by love. When we love Jesus, we are strengthened in our faith. He also states, “It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me.” We live on our faith in Jesus who loved us so much that He died for us. ’Faith working out of love’.

On hearing about their love for Jesus and the saints, Paul says he is able to remember them in his prayers and that his prayers for them are going to be effective because of their love. If we harbour bitterness, envy, hatred etc in our hearts, we will not be able to have a wide perspective about God. If we compare ourselves with others and get entangled with such negative emotions, we will never understand what God has prepared for us, nor His purpose for us.

God’s purposes are versatile and unique for each individual. Some are called to administer, some to serve, like that each is endowed with a unique purpose. For this reason the church is called the body of Christ ie ; various parts each with a function that is one-of –a-kind.

It is very crucial that each of us understand God’s purpose for us and that knowledge can help us to do our work faithfully and run the race with perseverance and devoid of competition. Let me assure you of one thing, God will not take the reward apportioned for one person and give it to another. Each one will receive his /her own reward. The reward is prepared and kept but God wants us to walk in His love so that He can reveal Himself to us. We must know that Jesus reveals everything to those who love Him. So, let us walk in His love and know Him more and more!

Some say, ‘I don’t have enough faith like many, but others have!’ Understand, faith is not your ability but it is your trust on God’s ability in your inability!!

Faith is your total trust in His unchanging nature( God never changes His Word) and love towards you. Many a times we look to ourselves and say:’I’m not good and my faith is also not good’. But the reality is that when we look to His goodness, faithfulness and power, our faith arouses and His goodness starts flowing to us!

Faith is my trust on His love “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us….”. (1 John.4.16) “…and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”(Gal.2.20L)

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”(Romans 5:5 ) So let’s look to Him taking in to mind what Paul said: I’m strong when I’m weak (2 Cor 12:10)

– Thomaskutty Br

In Ephesians 1:15, Paul writes to the Ephesians that he has not stopped giving thanks to God after hearing about their love for Jesus and for the saints. He says that God has elected us even before the foundation of the world. Those who don’t grasp the meaning and depth of this election by God often don’t understand the meaning and purpose of their lives. They just want to live somehow or the other and move on with their lives and don’t have a vision beyond their urgent needs.
When we read Ephesians 1:1-10, we understand that our election, our lives and the rapture are for the praise of His glory. We have been sent according to His purpose and we are in His purpose. When we realize this, we will always want to glorify Jesus and fall in love with Him. It eventually becomes a love relationship. This is what Jesus wants from us. He wants our unselfish love.
The fruit of our love for Jesus is our love for the saints. Who are the saints? The saints are those who are washed and redeemed by the blood of Jesus. When we love the saints, we are declaring our love for Jesus. So, let us love one another! !

–  Tangu Br

(To be continued…)