#prayerdevotional Archives

By Fire

Elijah said to Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, who led the people to idol worship, that till he says again, there will be neither dew nor rain in the land. Just as Elijah said, there was no rain in the land for three years which led to a severe famine. In the third year, God told Elijah to visit Ahab and that He will send rain on the land. Elijah told Ahab to bring the Israelites, 450 prophets of the pagan God Baal, and 400 prophets of another pagan God Asherah to mount Carmel. And Ahab did just as Elijah said.

When all of them gathered in Mount Carmel, Elijah rebuked the Israelites asking them not to waver between two opinions but to follow either Yahweh or the other false gods. Then he challenged the prophets of the pagan gods to bring the wood for two altars and two bulls for sacrifice. He told those prophets to build an altar and cut one bull and place it on the altar. The challenge was that without putting fire on the altar, they are to call their gods. The God who answers by fire is the true God. They chanted and called on the name of their gods till noon, cutting their bodies and shedding blood too. But nothing happened. No fire consumed their bull sacrifice.

Then Elijah asked the people to come to his side. He first repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. Then he took twelve stones, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. With these stones, he built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he built a trench around the altar. He put the wood and cut the bull and placed it on the wood. Then he asked the people to bring four waterpots full of water and pour it on the bull, and the wood. He asked them to do that three times – i.e 12 pots of water. The water filled the trench around the altar too.

Now, Elijah said to God, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that these people may know that You are the LORD God and that You have turned their hearts back to You again”.

Immediately the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”.

Two groups of people. One group chanted and screamed to their gods for half a day, shedding blood and hurting themselves, and yet with no answer. The other party just talked to God and the answer came immediately as mighty fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice along with the wood, the stones and the dust, and the water. Which side do we belong to? Even if we talk to a person, do we not expect an answer? ‘Silence is golden’ might sound good in a proverb. It is not when it comes to desperate prayers. What is the use of worshipping anything that does not answer? On the other hand, fire from heaven, can human minds perceive this idea? Fire from heaven at a word from the man of God.

Refer to 1 Kings chapter 18.

1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

May we not waver between God Almighty and the idols of this world, which can be money, status, power, beauty, or anything else. And may the God who answers by fire answer our prayers and even our thoughts! May Almighty God be so close to our prayers, petitions, and thoughts! AMEN!

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A pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet

Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites who were constantly plundering the Israelites. The Angel of the LORD, who was Jesus Himself, appeared to Gideon in the winepress and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior”. It is funny to see that God has a great humor sense to call a man who was in the hiding ‘a mighty warrior’. God calls us His warriors even when we are fearful. God calls us by the name of whom He will make us into, and not who we are in our weaknesses and failures.

Gideon replied to The Angel of God, “If the LORD is with us why has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about the LORD bringing us from Egypt?” The LORD had abundant patience towards Gideon and did not point out to him that they were given in Midianites’ hands because of their own disobedience towards Almighty God. The LORD answered to him, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”.

God had tremendous patience towards Gideon even as he tested God three times to make sure God will surely go with him to the battle. Gideon took the people who were with him and encamped them opposite the enemy camp. The LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claims glory for itself against Me saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’.

So God tested the people who were with Gideon. He asked the people who were fearful to return to their houses and 22000 of them returned home. Then He tested the rest of them in the water. The ones who drank the water without caution about the enemies were asked to return. The army was now reduced to just 300 people. from the 33000 people who started off, Gideon’s army was reduced to just 300.

That night, the LORD told Gideon to go to the enemy camp so that He could strengthen Gideon through the words he would hear from the enemies. The Midianites and Amalekites were lying in the valley as numerous as the locusts and their camels were without number. And Gideon’s army was 300 people.

Gideon divided the people into 3 divisions and he gave a pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet to each of them. At the beginning of the middle watch, as they neared the enemy camp, they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers and shouted, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!”. When Gideon’s army blew the trumpet, the LORD set every man’s sword in the enemy’s camp against his own army’s companion and they all fled away. God gave victory to Gideon’s army just as He promised.

Two things that caught my attention are 1) God had so much patience towards Gideon though he dared to test God multiple times. God gave him provisions for his fear to be freed. 2) As usual with God’s ways, the unusual war weapons that God gave them, and cutting down the number of the army to make them completely dependent on God and to give the glory only to God and not to themselves.

Unimaginable to our little minds! 300 men with a pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet chased away an army as numerous as locusts. With God on our side, no battle is too big to defeat! In heavenly armor, we will enter the land, because the battle belongs to the LORD! AMEN!

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Have breakfast!

By the lake of Gennasaret, Jesus saw two boats. The fishermen were washing their nets because they had caught nothing. Jesus got into one of the boats which was Simon’s and started to teach the multitudes. While washing his fishing net, Simon was giving ear to Jesus’ teaching. After finishing His teaching, Jesus said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”. Simon replied, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word, I will cast down my net”. And when they did just as Jesus said, they caught a great number of fish to the point that their net was breaking. So he signaled to James and John who were in their boat to come and help him. And when they came over, they filled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon saw that, overwhelmed he fell down at Jesus’ knees. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men”. So when they had brought their boats to the land, they forsook their boats and the fish and followed Jesus. (Luke 5:1-11)

Later, after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection – Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples twice while they were confined inside the house due to fear for their lives. Even after seeing resurrected Jesus, as they did not know what was next for them, they went back to fishing following the initiative of Simon. Simon who was the first one to leave two boats full of fish to follow Jesus was also the first one to lead the rest of the disciples back to the fishing profession when they momentarily did not have the clarity of their calling. Though Jesus revealed Himself repeatedly to them, it was not the same as before when they had the continued presence of Jesus. Even then, Jesus’ patience toward them is simply astonishing. His patience towards us today is still the same.

That night also, history repeated. They caught nothing though they toiled all night. By morning, Jesus stood on the shore; Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”. They replied, “No”. Jesus said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some”. So they cast, and they caught so many fish that they were not able to draw it in.

Immediately John recognized that it was Jesus and he told Peter. Hearing that, Peter plunged into the sea and swam to meet Jesus. When they came to the land, they saw fish laid on fire of coals and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of your fish too”. They had caught a net full of 153 large fishes. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast”. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish. Not only did He repeat the miracle of letting them catch a boatload of fish again, but He also fed them with food prepared by His own nail-pierced hands. I lack words to describe this utmost kindness of Jesus.

This kindness was towards these disciples who abandoned Jesus and denied knowing Him while He was being crucified. Instead of zapping them with lightning or rebuking them, Jesus showed kindness to them. Jesus’ kindness towards us is mightily more powerful than any punishment which we deserve. His patience and love have the power to transform our lives to surrender ourselves for His work.

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In the details

A friend in church asked me to do an art for a specific verse. The verse he gave me is

Isaiah 32:18 NLT My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.

I felt very excited to do this art and landed on a picture for reference and started working on the art. I spent so much time on painting the rustic house, focusing on the details of the wood and such. I felt very happy with the outcome of the art. As I shared the picture with my friends to get their opinions, a friend said, “It seems the house needed lots of work”. I felt touched by those words because it is true that I put so much effort into the house. What struck me is that if a mere art can reflect the effort that is put into it, how much more would reflect as we strive to live a holy life? In the same manner, if we are ignorant in our spiritual walk, then the fruit of the flesh takes over and makes us unworthy of heaven, as it says in

Galatians 5:19,20 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

It takes no effort to indulge in the fruit of the flesh as it is a slippery slope and one thing leads to the other. But the fruit of the Spirit needs lots of work and constant self-analysis.

1 Peter 1:16 Since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy”.

If we start to focus on each area of our life and bring it captive to God, we will start to become more and more like Christ in us. Amen!

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My Shoes!

Would anyone want to be in my shoes? ?

Shoes! Women’s weakness. I see, men’s too! We all get drawn towards other shoes, don’t we? We feel tempted to buy the shoes that others wear.

And in life, we all come with our own situations, circumstances, challenges, mountain tops, mostly valleys and what not. And we all walk in our own shoes, often wanting to be in others shoes, assuming that they have better shoes and better paths in life. When asked “How are you doing?”, most of the times, don’t we all just lie with a smile. Regardless of how we really are doing, we reply with the best smile “I am doing good. How about you?”. Outwardly when we see others, we think others cruise in their lives while we paddle hard and we want to be in their shoes rather than ours, as ours seem painful and blistery.

Would you want to be in my shoes? Disregard my smile as I talk. Disregard the almost perfect pictures that I post in social media. If you get to know my walks of life, the valleys that I am mostly on, and rarely a mountain top, would anyone want to be in my shoes? ?

I guess that is the case with most peoples’ walk, we just don’t see from the outside. All we see is perfect smiles and “I am good. Thank you”.

No matter how painful the valleys are and how many blisters we get in these shoes that we are in, I am thankful to God and God alone, for never forsaking me in any of the valleys, for drawing me closer to Him in each valley and never letting go of my hand. I have learnt that valleys are places where no one in this world can accompany us, except God. And He is more than enough. His Grace is sufficient.

Yet there is one place where I can remove my shoes and I can break my heart and pour out my tears – on my knees in Prayer. When I pour my heart out, God is so faithful that He answers. I have felt incredibly awed by ways that He lets me know that He sees me. He lets me know that He sees my tears – my EL ROI- the God who sees me. The One who saw Hagar’s tears in the desert – He sees my tears too. The One who saw Hannah’s tears at the altar – He sees my tears too. And I am amazed by how He sends me a message that He sees and my tears are not wasted.

One Sunday, when I was going through too much, I went a little early to church, just so I could pray. I sat at an end seat as usual and I just cried as I prayed. Tears rolling down my eyes, as I opened my eyes, a miracle happened. An elderly white lady was coming up the stairs just then. I am amazed by the timing. She saw me and my tears. In this country, where people are more interested in giving “space” , this lady looked at me and my tears. She, to my surprise, came over and sat down near me on the stairs next to me. And she asked how I was doing. I said my problem in 3 sentences. She gave me a tight hug and started praying, still hugging me tight as she prayed. My cries started to quiet down and I felt God’s peace. To me, it is God’s way of letting me know that He sent me comfort. I serve a God who is just too good, too sweeter than honey. So, taste and see that the LORD is good.

Psalm 56:8 You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?

Psalm 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

14. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

15. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

Psalm 23:4. Though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

I am thankful for the shoes God has put me in.

Psalm 18:33 He makes my feet like the feet of the deer, and sets me on my high places.

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