#prayerdevotional Archives -

Strongholds – brick by brick

I wanted to share these insights in relation to last week’s ‘strongholds’ topic in our small group. Quoting from the ‘Freedom in Christ’ book, “A stronghold is a belief or habitual pattern of thinking that is not consistent with what God tells us is true”. Psychologists might call them ‘defense mechanisms’. An easy way to understand a stronghold is allowing the devil to build a mansion in our hearts and minds and dwell there. A stronghold is not built by him overnight in anyone’s mind. He builds it brick by brick without catching our attention. Hence, we need to be very careful about anything we do that might give him the foothold to start building – anything that is against what God says in the Bible. Unforgiveness, pride, ego, jealousy, selfishness – these are just a few examples. Hence, the verse says, in 2 Corinthians 10:5 – “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. Most of the time, the root source of a stronghold is some kind of hurt. To avoid any further hurts, or to soothe ourselves from the past hurt, we raise defense mechanisms. Anything that we do by human nature is against God’s Word, because of our fallen sinful nature. A spiritual walk is done intentionally with effort, while human nature comes naturally with no effort.

Some of the strongholds start with vows and pacts that sound like this, “I will never do this … “. I would like to share this from my life. As I might have mentioned before too, I grew up as the only child and whenever Appa was angry, he would threaten me and Amma that he would throw us out of the house. I grew up with the fear of landing on the streets and so much bitterness and anger towards Appa. When I got married, I felt secure in Suresh’s parent’s house. And I said to myself, “I will never stay at my parent’s house again, because now I have a safe place”. In 18 years of marriage, I never stayed at my parents’ house for even a night. Though at the time, I did not know that these were strongholds, God in His mercy broke them. The first and the only time I stayed in that house after my marriage was on the day when Amma went to be with the Lord. The reason why I am sharing this is, that even though we claim to be believers, we lack understanding of God’s ways and are clueless of the devil’s tactics. Devil does not come up with new strategies, because most of them we are not even aware of his usual schemes. Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.

  Think of any deep hurt that has happened to you, any criticism, any inferiority complex, and see what survival skill you developed to defend yourself. That has a great chance of being a stronghold unless it aligns with God’s Word and You let God be your defender. To help understand better, I can share one more thing. Initially, I could not work for many years and we all know the taunts that we hear from people whenever we visit India. Finally, when God gave me the job, I became a very arrogant person. “Look at me, God is on my side”.  All the hurts that I kept bottled up came out as arrogance. And again, God in His good mercy took me through some paths of humility, humbled me, and reminded me that if He could give me the job, He could take it back too, unless I fix my attitude 🙂 Of course, that puts things in perspective.

The reason I share these insights about strongholds is if we do not even know that there is a battle that is being waged at us constantly, we are defeated already. One prayer I learned to do is to constantly check for strongholds and ask God to show them to me and break them in the Name of Jesus. No stronghold is built overnight. Once the devil builds a stronghold in you, it is like he has a strong hold on you. Unless you take that space back and give it in Jesus’ control, you become his slave. Remember Jesus’ words – John 14:30 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me.” This is how Jesus expects us to live, by giving no room for the devil to have any claim on us.

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Closed door

In the past few New Year’s, I watched the New Year service themes of some prominent churches in India. They come up with very blessed themes, like year of flourishing, open heavens, and such. But, you know what, not even once I heard a theme called, ‘year of closed door’ 🙂 Because we like only open doors. Closed doors are frowned upon as ‘negative words,’ and we get reminded of Proverbs 18:21 – the power of the tongue. Our human mindset is, even when we wait for a door to open, we don’t want the current door to expel us out. Our preference is for the door to open without having to be in the hallway. Most likely, God does not open any doors without expelling us into the hallway, so that our eyes will seek the next door. An open door does not happen when you are within your comfort zone. The descendants of Abraham were promised the land of Canaan. Even though God Himself took Jacob’s descendants to Egypt through Joseph, both Jacob and Joseph prophesied that God will take the Israelites to the promised land. Just as God had told Abraham, that his descendants will serve in a foreign nation for 400 years, the Israelites sighed and groaned in their afflictions by the Egyptians. And God heard it.

If there is one thing that no one can stop, it is God’s favor. Israelites are God’s chosen people. Even when they were stiff-necked and rebellious and tested God’s patience all the time, He never failed to feed them and protect them in the wilderness. If God’s favor is on someone, man’s favor is a perk that comes along with it. Joseph received favor wherever He was put. Even though it seemed like one misery to another, those were the paths that God had ordained for his foretold destiny. Esther, though a lowly and despised beginning as an orphan, God granted her favor wherever she went. The king even offered half his kingdom for her. David was successful in whatever he did. Daniel and his friends received favor with the king. These people received favor in God’s eyes and thus in others’ eyes, because they set themselves apart to be obedient to God, even when they had to take a stand for God and be all by themselves. These kinds of rewards do not simply fall on anyone’s lap. When we take a stand for God, He stands up for us. When God stands up for us, no one can stand against Him.

When a mother is pregnant with a baby, at one point, the baby needs to be expelled out. We, as ‘once upon a time’ pregnant moms, would think about our baby in the womb, and also think of them after they are born, as we make purchases for them in preparation for their coming. We don’t dwell much on thinking of the process of the delivery as it is painful. But, without that painful process, the expelling of the baby into our hands cannot happen. The growing discomforts as the time nears make us long for the baby to come out, even through that painful process. So, yes, hallway is not where we want to be, but as it leads to the next door, my prayer is for a closed door – to begin with.

Revelation 3:7-8 These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

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Daily devotional

Jan 31 – Job 40-42

On day 31, we wrap up the book of Job and I am happy about that. To begin with, Job’s suffering scares any human. It is not a lot that anyone would want to pick. He endured and made it through. I dread the bickering that happens throughout most of this book. So I am glad that we are done with this book and move on to my favorite book – EXODUS. Still, my understanding is, that people like Abraham and Job and Jacob and others, are considered righteous in God’s eyes and made it the wall of faith. They were not perfect, but they did their best with the understanding that they had about this Almighty, Holy, and Powerful God. Today we have the privilege of knowing more about our God because He graciously gave it all in writing to us in the form of Bible. Considering what they knew about God, they did their best. Abraham had tremendous faith about having Isaac, at the same time, there were moments of weakness in faith that made room for Ishmael too. He had seen the LORD but still feared that some pagan king would kill him so lied about his wife. Job got good reports from God Almighty Himself. And the suffering that he went through was tremendous for any human to bear.

The lesson I learned from this book is that we don’t have to exhaust ourselves by explaining to people who don’t want to understand us. As the saying, “It is better to be alone than in bad company”. Job started off by saying, “We who received good things from God, should we not receive bad things too”. But, over time, with the increase of the agony, and with the friends who were not of much help, he wanted to ‘plead his case with God’. God intervened in the back-and-forth conversations between Job and his friends and asked Job more than 75 questions that established His Supremacy. Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? 8. Who shut up the sea behind doors? 22. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?

Not only the LORD talked about nature’s mighty forces, but He also asked Job 39:1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?”. What an amazing God we have the privilege of knowing. He controls the humongous things that we have no insight into, like the Pleiades and Orion’s belt and the constellations. At the same time, He even cares about the mountain goats and all the animals in the wilderness. How much would He care for us whom He created in His own image and sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us? Once God started to ask the questions, Job realized that he was in no place to plead his case anymore. That is the major lesson that I learned from this Book. We exist because of God’s grace. We are saved by His grace. Who are we to ask Him anything? It is in His good pleasure that He gives us good things. So may we not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are somebody and that we can command and decree to Him.

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Your Servant

I have memorized 80 Bible Verses in 2024 Last year it was 150.

Today I finished memorizing Psalm 116. Verse 15 is close to my heart. (15) Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants. When I was with amma in the hospital in her last 2 weeks, I read the Bible for her everyday and prayed with her. On that wednesday in Jan 2021, I happened to read this chapter to her. I did not realize that this chapter had this verse. As I got to this verse, I choked on it. I wanted to skip that verse, but then I did not skip it but read it because I did not plan on that verse and God ordains our steps. I did not know at the time, but I felt so terrible that I started to read this chapter without realizing this verse was in it. In about a couple of hours, amma gasped for breath and said, “She is going to see Jesus” and was put in the ventilator.

That day I did not notice verse 16. Today as I memorized that verse, I felt pretty amazed if that verse was written about me. Ofcourse, there would be many who can relate to it as the Bible is the Living water that quenches the world’s thirst. Verse 16 – Truly I am Your servant, LORD; I serve You just as my mother did; You have freed me from my chains.”

Amma was a silent prayer warrior who was written off as a failure by the world, including me. But, as I went through her prayer journals, I realized what a prayer warrior she was. Back then, I did not want anything like amma. But, as I read this verse 16, like her, I just want to be God’s servant. Being His servant is my privilege.

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Strike the Wolves!

The One thing that I hate THE MOST is people who deceive and draw others away from God for their selfish reasons. Any other kind of deceptions will not cost eternity for anyone. But this kind of deception makes people believe that they are on the way to heaven, only to find out that they weren’t, because they weren’t watchful of the ways of the people that they were following. I get furious when I come across such situations.

Adam and Eve sinned. God promised redemption through Jesus. Jesus, since the time He entered into this world, He had only one purpose – to die for the sins of mankind so that we can be restored from the condemnation of hell. Imagine someone who got a medical report and was given only a small amount of time to live, how would life be for them? Imagine someone who got a death sentence, how would their wait be till the sentence gets executed? Wouldn’t their lives be nothing but misery? Awaiting a miserable death, yet Jesus preached about His Kingdom, He warned the people about the savage wolves that would come in sheep’s clothing to deceive even the chosen ones, healed the sick, and lived a sinless life, in preparation for the Sacrifice that He was meant to be. Jesus did everything that He was supposed to do, obeying His Father, all along while awaiting the Cross of Calvary.

Jesus intends to save us all from hell and keep us eternally with Him in heaven. The devil’s intention, on the other hand, is to keep people from following Jesus and take them to hell and to the lake of fire with him. So, the people who deceive others by showing the signboard as “Follow me to follow Jesus”, do they work for Jesus or the devil? My biggest concern is for the ones who choose to follow Jesus and believe that they are following Jesus and convince themselves that they are on the right path, how would it be if they found out at the point of no return that they had been on the wrong path?

These wolves in sheep’s clothing, as if it is not bad enough to work for the devil, pretend that they work for God. Since I was around 8 years old, as I read the gospels, the things that are engraved so strongly in my mind are the warnings that Jesus gave about the deceptions in the last days. Since then, I have set it in my heart to be alert about deceptions because I cannot let anything cost my eternity with Jesus.

Blasphemy is bringing reproach to God’s name, character, work, or attributes. A man in Leviticus who blasphemed God’s name was stoned to death. Isaiah 36 tells the story of Sennacherib the king of Assyria who blasphemed Jehovah God by comparing Him with the idols of the pagan nations and God put Him to death. Followers of God are responsible for making sure that their behavior doesn’t incite others to blaspheme God. Romans 2:17-24 talks about the ones who boast about following the law and yet breaking it. They say to others, “Do not commit adultery?” and they themselves do it. They claim to abhor idols, but they rob the temples.

This is why I strongly react against false teachers and false teachings. Be it Jesus, or be it Paul and the apostles, they all warned greatly about the savage wolves that would surely be lurking around near the flock of Jesus.

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. 29. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock, 30. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

How much wrath these wolves are heaping up on them by blaspheming God? There are blind and blinded sheep. Then there are also the ignorant sheep. My concern is for the blind and blinded sheep because I once was that. The ignorant ones choose to sleep keeping the snake on their bed and so they can gladly pay the price for it.

Today I come to the Lord with a bold prayer, out of the burden of my heart. “Strike these wolves, O Lord! Open the eyes of the blind and the blinded sheep just as You opened my eyes? Have mercy on them O Lord! If You give them in to follow what pleases their itching ears, they will be doomed. Have mercy, O Lord! Give them a chance, open their eyes to see Your path, O Lord! The blind ones who forfeit their sight and Your light and choose to trust these wolves, I pray, have mercy one more time, O Lord. Strike the wolves, O Lord. Aren’t You our good Shepherd, O Lord? Please protect Your sheep. In the Name of Jesus, I ask. Amen”.

Now, this is not a prayer for my prosperity and wealth. This is for the perishing ones to find Jesus’ path. So, let’s say – if God in His mercy chooses to grant ‘Amen’ to my prayer and strikes the wolves, Would you be a stricken wolf or a saved sheep? Because the wolf can pretend to be a sheep, but God knows very well who is who.

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Coconut danger

We had a blessed trip to India. On one of the nights in my first week there, I listened to a powerful message on Psalm 91. As I was greatly worried about a situation that day, I felt like God was pressing me to listen to that message that day. I had seen that message several times in the past few weeks but did not listen to it till then. The message gave me tremendous amounts of strength and I prayed claiming the protection of Psalm 91. The next day as I was cooking, I had to wait and didn’t want to step away from the kitchen because if I stepped away, I often forgot that the stove was on. So I sat on the outside kitchen steps. Within minutes, a coconut fell off the tree just a few feet away from me. I just stayed put because I felt that God had protected me and I remembered the Psalm 91 message that I heard the previous day and the prayers that I did following that. I was so grateful that it did not hurt me or fall on anyone else’s head. The lady who cleans our house sweeps the backyard every day and I felt so grateful that it did not fall while she was doing her work. And the previous day, another person was working in our entire yard. I felt so grateful that this coconut did not fall on any of our heads. I have seen the battle being so real. ‘The Battle belongs to the Lord’ has been my theme for this trip and God took care of my battles.

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What if?

Pondering on the transformation of Peter from John chapter 21 to Acts chapter 2. One profound insight that I received in my discipleship class is to read the Bible with fresh eyes as if I am reading it for the first time. We who grew up in churches hear the story first and then read it in the Bible and that robs us of the attention to the details. To me, it feels like the fruit has been waiting to ripen all this time and now suddenly it did.

“What if?” – these 2 words could entirely change our faith and our lives. Jesus was with the disciples for more than three years. Provisions met. Food needs met. Attention in the eyes of the public as decorated servants. They did not need to think of their old professions for a livelihood. That could be why, when Jesus talked about His awaited suffering and death, Peter rebuked Jesus saying that it should not happen to Him. Though Jesus had been foretelling them repeatedly about His crucifixion and death, as their time of understanding and revelation had not come yet, they were blinded and deaf. Before they could process what was happening, Jesus was crucified and buried in the tomb. Imagine the devastation that the disciples must have felt! Their lives changed upside down when their good shepherd was slaughtered. What now? Forget being the royal servants, now the tables have turned and they were afraid to even go out of their houses.

Peter thought that there was no point in wasting any more time. It is best to become practical and go dust up the fishing nets and go back to the fishing profession. In a way that would put some security on his life as the chief priests and others would not consider the disciples as a threat anymore. As in Zechariah 13:7, the shepherd was struck and the sheep fled for their lives.

John chapter 21 – When the calling was to catch men for Jesus, the attempt to catch fish was futile. Jesus gave them a repeat of their first “Follow Me” call. This time He awaited them with a prepared meal. I truly have no words about the heart of Jesus in this place. After the meal, Jesus restores Peter by asking the question, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” indicating that if You are not aligned with My calling, you are a simple Simon, and not Peter. Jesus asks Peter to feed His lamb and sheep. Could it be because Jesus being the good shepherd, passed on the rod and the staff to take care of the lamb and the sheep? Jesus did not forget the littlest lamb either. Isaiah 40:11 He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young. As Peter and the disciples experienced how it felt to be like scattered sheep, Jesus gave them the responsibility of taking care of His other sheep and lamb so they are not scattered by the wolves.

Jesus predicted to Peter about the kind of life he would live for the cost of the gospel and the kind of death by which He will glorify God. Then Acts chapter 2 happens and Peter stood up with the disciples, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.

See, if Peter had not quoted these verses from the Old Testament and connected them with what had happened, about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the betrayal that Judas did, and also the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, would we have understood just by reading those verses in the Old Testament?

Joel 2:28-38 In the last days. God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people.

Psalm 16:10 You will not abandon Me to the realm of the dead, You will not let Your holy one see decay.

Moses stated that a prophet will rise from among you and you must listen to everything that He says.

In my little wisdom, I wouldn’t have made any of these connections if Peter had not spoken in Acts chapter 2. And how did Peter suddenly make all these connections from the Old Testament? Luke 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. It was the work of the Holy Spirit whom they explicitly received just then.

Now, back to my “what if?” question. If Jesus had not resurrected from the dead and had not appeared to these disciples for 40 days and showed them signs and miracles throughout that time thus proving Himself as resurrected, what would have happened? The disciples would have gone back to their fishing and whatever professions and there would not have been anything called the Christian faith. If this Jesus had not made Himself so real to them after He was crucified by resurrecting back to life, why would these disciples, instead of going back to their safe profession, take a U-turn and go about spreading the gospel of Christ and up to the point of being martyred for the sake of their faith in Christ. Just as Jesus predicted to Peter in John chapter 21, Peter gave himself to be crucified upside down as he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ. If something profound had not happened, like the resurrection of Christ, would anyone in their right mind choose a path like this?

What makes me still ponder on the restoration of Peter? Because I can relate to Peter a lot. My common statement is, “Lord, You are worth my everything, my breath, and my life”. I understand that Peter also said the same in the strength of his flesh, which could not sustain him. But the outpouring of the Holy Spirit accomplished everything that Jesus had purposed with Peter’s life. So I commit my desire unto the nail-pierced hands of Jesus. May He equip me to accomplish whatever He has purposed through me, by pouring out His anointing upon me. Amen!

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Call her Blessed

Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise and call her blessed.

Today is Amma’s third anniversary. For the past few days, the above verse repeatedly came to my mind. Amma was no Proverbs 31 woman. For a long time, she was one person I did not want to end up like. In the world’s eyes, she was a failure, who lived a life of misery. But now, when I look back, I see her as a blessed woman because she finished her race with the words, “Naan Yesappava paaaka poren (I am going to see Jesus)”. Life can be a failure or it can even be a success in the world’s eyes but unless one finishes the race in Christ, it is a failure for sure.

But now when I look back, God has been so faithful towards her. All through her life, without wavering for one bit, Amma held on to God. Though her life did not seem to get any better, she held on to God. Though probably she did not realize it, I now understand very well that she truly was a blessed woman because I can see now that God has answered ALL her prayers. She always prayed that she would not suffer from sickness. Though she was diagnosed with cancer at its terminal stage, she suffered no pain from it. Amma would always quote the entire of Psalm 91 and Psalm 128 every time she prayed. And even through the times of the pandemic, God protected her from the virus. Though she was a very shy person, she had even gone to some neighbors and shared the gospel with them. I went through a bunch of her journals in which she had prayed for so many people whose situations I had shared with her. Every time she would ask me to spell their name and the place they live, and I read in her journals that she prayed for them. She did all these things with no bells and whistles.

In her last two weeks, as she was in the hospital, every time I went out in an autorickshaw, I always sang this song, “En Koodave Irum, O Yesuve (Be always with me, Jesus)”. As this was in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic, I would wear the mask so no one could see or hear me sing, but every time I sang just the chorus of the song because that’s all the lyrics I knew in this song. But on that day, a Wednesday, early morning, I saw this song being posted in one of the church groups which was sung by my friend’s family. That is when I heard the stanzas and my mind immediately registered the second stanza for some reason. I kept singing this song’s second stanza in Amma’s room that day. The second stanza talks about how God will be my father and mother in my tears and sorrows. That was the last time she heard me sing. How faithful God is to tell me of what was coming!

I believe another thing God honored was her desire for me to learn to play the piano. I am just glad that I could play these chords and sing this song. God redeemed us and restored our relationships!

So many people helped my parents with everything and I pray for God’s blessings over each one of them! May God richly reward then for their kindness!

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Why this offer?

Today I had a completely new insight that I never had before. Esther is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. I love the part when she stands before the King and the King says, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you”. I always saw this as God-given favor for Esther in the king’s eyes.

Today I had a completely different insight. Why did Esther get this kind of offer on that important day? When Mordecai asked her to do something about the danger that had happened to the entire Jews, Esther explained why she could not put her life at risk. After Mordecai reminded her of why God might have given her the privilege of being in the palace at a time like that, she asked everyone to fast and pray for her. And she went to the King, putting her life at risk. “If I perish, I perish”, she said.

As she stood before the king, without invitation, wondering if it was the sword that was going to come to her head, the king stretched out the scepter and asked her the question, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you”. Is this also not a temptation to take the easy way out to protect her own life? Because if half the king’s kingdom was given to Esther, was her life in any more danger? Would she not be equal in position to the king and thus save her own life?

A lot of times, when God has a huge task before us, the devil would show some shortcuts and easy ways out to keep us from doing the difficult task that God had asked us to do. The devil did the same to Jesus too. He tempted Jesus by offering the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would bow down and worship him. The task in front of Jesus was the Cross of Calvary. The devil tempted Jesus to take the shortcut which he offered by not having to go to the cross.

Know the voice of God. Know the task He has set before you. Know the shortcuts that show up in front of you that lure you away from your calling and your purpose. Stay away from the shortcuts and stick to the task God has given you.

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The signet ring

Two men. Slaves in pagan nations. The kings of these nations took off their signet rings and gave them to these men – Joseph and Mordecai as if they were spellbound by the command of the Almighty God.

Any law that was sealed with the King’s signet ring could not be revoked. Whoever had the signet ring held the authority to pass any law or command anything they pleased. So it would seem that these men held higher authority than the king himself.

What made them special enough to receive this privilege? The reason was that neither of these men bowed down before any human authority. They feared Almighty God more than they feared their circumstances or the authority that demanded them to disobey God. Joseph did not yield to the wicked desires of his master’s wife. Mordecai did not bow down before Haman, the second in command of the nation. Their devotion to God made their living itself a question mark and yet they did not budge. And God rewarded them in due time with the King’s signet ring.

If these men had done just what everyone else was doing, they would have stayed one among everyone else. Their names made it in the Bible because they chose to obey God. Without obedience to God, there is no reward.

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