THE SIX LETTER WORD

       This ‘Six letter word’ is the most profound expression, which has unimaginable power that creates, moulds, restores, renews and builds the character of a human. It also destroys everything that is against His Sovereign and makes a way in the wilderness for a person who is seeking for the divine revelation of God in his ‘few days under the sky’.

           Even in the pilgrimage of a Christian, in his walk with the Creator of heavens and the earth, this ‘six letter word’ has become an uncared, orphaned and a despised expression. This grieves the heart of God. It is pathetic of people who as Christians have not realized that the foundations of their faith in God ‘will be shaken’ if they will not recognize the power of ‘the six letter word’ in their life.

‘The six letter word’ is ‘PRAYER’.

   Prayer is the ultimate weapon which has the power to change situations, transform people, solve problems; to bring down deliverance, healing, breakthrough, victory and ultimately His will, His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

    We, at the same time, cannot ‘play with and pray to’ the NAME THAT IS ABOVE ALL NAMES.  People have invented many spiritual games and now the Christians are also interested in playing the ‘CHURCH GAME’. As Leonard Ravenhill, mentioned in his book ‘Preachers who are not praying are playing and believers who are not praying are straying’. We are not called to play or stray but to bind the works of Satan, to proclaim FREEDOM to humanity from their yoke of sin, death, trouble and chaos. We are called to show them how to live life to the fullest under the heavens. It is not an interest or a hobby to live as a Christian but you must know that “He chose you in Him before the foundations of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4).

              As a child of God, it is your decision whether to use this weapon of prayer or to labour with all your strength to do many other things in this world which would be of no value in the kingdom above. So earnestly seek God with all your heart because when you seek Him with all your heart, then you shall find the purpose of your life ‘in your prayers’.  

 

#STOP PLEASING PEOPLE AND START PLEASING GOD#

        Even a person who has hundreds and thousands of people around him, friends, relatives, colleagues, can be a very lonely person if he does not have God in his life. There will be an unseen vacuum which he will tend to fill by fulfilling his evil desires. Unfortunately, he finds it dissatisfying, leading him to run behind every filthy sin in life.

 This was the condition of every believer before JESUS came into his life. After being saved, cleansed, restored and renewed, now it is pitiable to say ‘I FEEL LONELY’

     Believers nowadays have got too along with people that many have forsaken God. Though your conversations maybe full of God, you may preach about God, you may write about God, sing about God but when you are not alone speaking with God ‘YOU DON’T KNOW GOD’.

       Don’t expect God to do greater things through you or use you as you read in the Bible because it is written that Jesus being the Son of God often went to the mountain to pray. He took with Him a group of people so that He will not be bored! Didn’t He?

      NO! It was Him and God alone where He received the revelation to do the will of the Father. Moses encountered God alone in Mount Sinai. It was in that mountain with blazing fire that God himself came down to meet Moses.

      In your time alone with God, lift your hands and cry out to Him until He fills you with the cleansing fire that burns up the flesh, breaks down the walls and sets you free. Oh! That glorious moment when tears flow down unceasing, joy bubbling in our hearts, filled with the boldness of a Lion in your spirit.

    Walk out into this world and answer the priests of Baal, with the heavenly fire from above burning everything that is against God into ashes. A thousand Elijahs are required because Priests of Baal seem to have built altars to Baal all around the globe ready to be burned. Rise up as Elijahs!!!

#STOP STRUGGLING AND START WRESTLING#

       We believe in a God who is from everlasting to everlasting. He is enthroned and He is the ‘KING OF KINGS’ and the ‘LORD OF LORDS’.  ‘THE GREAT I AM’ is almighty, majestic, who reigns forever and ever. His Voice thunders all around the earth who is the Unseen and the Everlasting King.

      People now a days too often look at the problems in their life that they forget God. They worship Him, praise Him but when ‘the tides in their life grow rough’, they act as if they don’t know God.

       We sing songs of praise and say He is my comforter, counsellor, My All in All’ and say every wonder and majesty of God, yet when troubles come it is the same “us” trying to make up everything with our knowledge and defend ourselves, saying ‘THIS IS TO BE PRACTICAL’.

      Let God help us to overcome this unbelief. ‘An unbelieving heart commits the GREATEST SIN’.

      People struggle with sin, struggle with the darkness of mind and struggle with the pressures of this life which tempts us to drift away from God. Enough of it!

      Don’t just struggle but instead wrestle, wrestle in your prayers. Jesus was victorious in the Cross; Enemy’s head was crushed in Calvary but the battle was already won in Gethsemane. Jesus prayed and wrestled as blood was falling as sweat from his brows.

      When did Jacob become Israel?  It is written ‘So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak (Genesis 32:24)’. They wrestled and then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Genesis 32:26)’.

         Jacob did not leave him, though he was limping with his legs but that furious warrior did not seem to quit, was perseverant and emerged as Israel.

        When is the last time that you wrestled with God on your knees, quoting the words of Jacob ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ Oh! Let God enable us to learn this sacred art of wrestling in prayers.

FATHER TEACH US TO PRAY                 

       Look to JESUS the KING OF KINGS and the LORD OF LORDS, exalted high in the heavens. Two thousand years ago, He died on the cross for you and me not only because He was appointed for that but much more, because GOD LOVED YOU SO MUCH that He sent His Son Jesus Christ for you.

     Ask Him, who was obedient to the will of God till his death, till his painful death on the cross. Ask Jesus How to pray! GO BACK! GO BACK TO THE MERCY SEAT with the same love when you were born again and cry out to Him “FATHER TEACH US TO PRAY!” 

  Newall Jemuel

  II Year 

  Civil Engineering

Grapes

GRAPES

I’m created tender and sweet

Hanging by the vine

Amongst twigs so green

I stay rosy red

My scent thereof, a fragrance to my Beloved,

Hidden, yet by Him I’m known.

The image of my Maker, I reflect,

And there bring forth,

The fragrance of my Beloved, Jesus Christ.

Now, if He may take me to the winepress

I shall lay there with no revolt,

Hard pressed and crushed,

All of me, ooze out,

My fragrance multiplies with every press and crush,

I become the drink my Beloved savors,

Oh, He knows to place me

Be the vineyard or the winepress,

I shall humbly be as He desires.

Anywhere, purpose remains the same;

To serve, worship and love Him only,

Thus, for His glory, I shall be,

At the vineyard or the winepress.

                 Allen Joseph Abraham                 IV year                 Instrumentation and Control Engineering

Nothing can separate us

Devki Desai

III year

Computer Science and Engineering

Lord, Have I allowed myself to get caught up
In the devil’s wide sweep
Without realizing he never gives up
Even when we sleep! 

Oh Lord, how many times do we get led astray
In our lifetime?
Falling into the path of disarray
Instead of sampling Your new wine.

Oh Lord, forgive us that it seems so easy
For the devil to make us queasy
We don’t even see it coming
He seems ahead in the race to block our running!

Have You heard all this before
Or am I the only lone ranger
Forgetting to knock at Your door
And putting myself in danger?

Oh Lord, as for being weak
You don’t have far to seek
When You look at my ‘grade’-book
I’ve often been thrown over and shook!

How can we ever catch up
Satan’s wiles are no storm in a tea-cup
Oh Lord, we quickly come back to You
To rescue us out of every stew.

How amazing You’re willing to understand!
You’re even first to reach out Your hand
And to restore us from our fall,
Your blessed Love and Grace having heard our call!

For You will never leave us, nor Your child forsake,
You conquered  - Christ’s blood alone did overtake
The sin and evil which may try to lure us away
Nothing is able to separate us, since that Day !!

Whisper in the maze

Bittu M Mathew

Architecture

Batch of 2013

Please help me BE STILL and
KNOW YOU ARE GOD,
I want to hear You again.

Struggling to smile and
Hiding  all my failures;
Can't figure how to get back in line.
That's when I closed my eyes and remembered
I MISSED YOUR WHISPER.
IN THE MIDST OF THE WORLD

Fearing the storms,
My life seems like a big mess;
Feel so helpless sunken in despair.
That's when I knelt down and remembered
I MISSED YOUR WHISPER.
IN THE MIDST OF MY WORRIES.

I turn to You now, it's all so clear.
I hear Your gentle whisper
Your promises, it's all I need to hear in all of the noise.
Let the world hear me shout out Your whisper!

Falling into God's love

Sarah Philip

Biotechnology

3rd Year

A lesson from Joshua;

Most of us have read about Joshua and the picture that often comes into our mind is that of the broken down wall of Jericho. But there is something more than that, Joshua loved the Lord.

 In Exodus 33:11b it says;

“When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent”

Joshua followed the Lord from a young age. He knew the Lord, had a relationship with the Lord and he wanted more from the Lord. When we read the book of Joshua, it can be seen that he followed whatever the  Lord said and that was something that caught hold of my attention. It didn't matter what God told Joshua. Whether the idea was as ridiculous as walking around a wall for 6 days to break it down or as realistic as fighting the battle believing that the Lord would take him through, Joshua did it all because he knew that when God promises, He never fails.  

But how? How could Joshua do it? It’s a simple answer , its Love .

Where are we with the Lord today? Do we love Him? Most of us do, but tasting the love of God and being satisfied with it and not taking it to the next level is idiotism. 

We should never ever be satisfied with the Love we have for God. We should keep going, keep getting engulfed by it and keep striving for more. And this love that you keep experiencing, will make you fall more and more in love with him. 

And when you love the Lord, things like trust , faith and obedience will just follow through. You don’t have to try to be faithful to the Lord or try your best to trust in him when things are not going smoothly, in fact you don’t have to try at all.  Just Love, and  everything else will come as an outburst of your Love.

You wouldn't think twice about anything. You wouldn’t question God about bad circumstances but would just know that God will lead you through it. You wouldn't forget to thank God about everything in your life, it would just pour out of your heart .

Corrie ten boom puts it as;

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”

And this pit is never ending. Don’t just fall down it and hang onto the sides. Fall into it headlong.

  

  1John 2 : 5 says

“But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. “

Wow! When you are fully into Gods love you just obey what the Lord days . You don’t have to try with your flesh to follow the ten commandments, it becomes a burden then. No one can ever force you to follow it.  But when immersed in his love, you follow what ever the Lord says, out of love.

A small quote to conclude

Whom should we love, if not Him who loved us, and gave himself for us?
- Augustus Toplady

ARE YOU A HEALTHY CHRISTIAN?

Rajesh Jude Medidi

Mechanical Engineering

Batch of 2014 

Fitness! Fitness is very important nowadays to live healthier and longer lives. With the kind of food that we are eating today and the way we’re always sitting in front of laptops and mobile phones, we automatically become unfit and become used to it. Statistics show that only one in three children is physically active these days.

Just as it is important to keep our physical body fit which is what is so emphasized on TV, it is also important to take care of our spiritual bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:44 talks about having a natural body and a spiritual body.

1 Timothy 4:8 says ‘For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come’.

This inner man or the spiritual body was raised to life by Jesus Christ when He resurrected, in other words, it is that imperishable seed that God has placed us in us which redeemed us from our empty way of life.

1 Peter 1:18,19 – “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 handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

All of us pretty much take good care of our bodies like bathing, grooming, brushing, make up (for girls and a few boys), etc., so don’t we have to take care of the inner man who lives in us?

So how do we do it?

1. Eat the right food.

To remain physically fit, we have to eat the right food with the right nutrients in the right amounts. Not having food for the day would just make us weak for the day. So what is the spiritual food that would help us grow?

• Bread – Word of God

Bread, a staple food for everyone. It is what our moms have been feeding right from our infant age.

It is through this bread or the living and enduring word of God that we have been born again. (1 Peter 1:23)

His word is what will make us grow more in Him and nearer to Him.

In a blog post by Devki,

http://justholdonwearegoinghome.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/lean-in-and-listen/

She clearly puts up why we should read the word, “The reason to open up our Bible each morning is to seek God’s Word, His direction. The Word is so alive that it does teach us, and direct us and so much more. God’s Word comforts, confirms and carries us though another day with Him at our side.”

Ezekiel 3:1-3

1. He told me, “Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.”

2, 3 As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, “Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!”

So I ate it. It tasted so good—just like honey.

• Prayer

Prayer is another source for our growth. It is that place of our meeting with God. It is in that time of our meeting with God, that we receive our strength, our direction, and our answers. Prayer is also a battlefield where we fight against the devil by God’s power as we wear the armor of God. We also see in Hebrews 5:7, how Jesus prayed and the result of it.

Also in the book of Acts, we see how times of prayers and worship strengthened and made people bold, how they broke chains and also revealed who should go for His work.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.”

• Fellowship

We also grow through our fellowship with one another. In fellowship, we grow together as a family in Christ, carrying each other’s burden, supporting one another, encouraging one another, teaching and correcting one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

2. Exercise!

Earlier we saw what the things that we would feed our bodies are. But we need to start exercising what we receive otherwise we will become FAT! Exercise burns away the unnecessary fats in our bodies.

A big example of exercising our faith is sharing our faith with others. How often have we done that? Jesus gave this commission to everyone who believed in him (Matthew 28:19-20).

A few more examples of exercising our faith are encouraging one another, praying for one another, teaching one another and the list goes on. Many times, many of us come to fellowship and receive and we go back and this has been happening quite often. But it’s time that we do not stay at that stage of just receiving but also giving, for ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:35)

But during this stage of exercise, we’ll go through pains in our bodies. But when a man physically exercises, the pain he gets in the early days of exercise is a sign of growth and shows that the muscles are stretching and growing. In the same way, in our spiritual life, pains and storms will make us grow and it is through Christ that we can overcome them.

3. Holy Spirit – Our trainer.

God has not left us alone to work out our salvation on our own. But He has given us the Holy Spirit, who like a personal trainer would help us, teach us, direct us and empower us in our walk with God.

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Finally it is important to have a balanced diet in our spiritual lives. Without being fed properly, we would not have any energy to exercise our faith; we would just be a powerful sports car with no fuel. In other words, we would be MALNOURISHED! On the other hand, if we don’t exercise properly, we will become OBESE!

So eat well and exercise well!

Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power”

2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”

GOD BLESS YOU!!

EYES FIXED ON THE PIONEER AND PERFECTER OF FAITH

Mridula Narayan

Journalism and Mass Communication

SRM University

     

We've often heard some say that we need to call out to God in our bad times and thank God during the good times. In the good times, we tend to forget about God and we are happy and dependent on what he have. In the bad times, we cry out to God saying, “What's happening God”

The truth is God wants us to reach out to Him at all times, to acknowledge him at all times.

God is not interested in only giving us what we need, He is interested in being our everything in every moment of our life.

This is Gods will, His heart – to have us with him, in him and for him forever and ever.

The author of Hebrews portrays this heart of God beautifully in Hebrews 12 : 1 – 2 - “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run wit perseverance the race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.....”

This faith is the promise God has given us from the beginning before the earth or anything in it was created – for which God sent his one and only Son to pay the price for us – to save us and take us home to eternity.

To reach the finish line the runner has to run the race, in the same way we need to run this race on this earth to reach our goal – eternity. And all we need to do is fix our eyes on Him who will perfect our faith to make us reach that goal, the place we belong.

Want to share two very important steps we need to take while running this race to fix our eyes on the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

1) We need to remember God is sovereign

1 Chronicles 29 : 11, 12  - Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

a) In the good times, it is so important that you remember God. You need to come to an understanding and remember that whatever you have and who you are is from God.

Nothing that you do or you say or you feel can get you to where you are. But it is His grace and his grace in abundance that has given you the strength to do what he wants you to do and be who you are.

He created the way you look and He gives you the ability to do what you have to do because you are his child.

When you know you belong to Him, you will know everything belongs to Him.

b) And in the tough times, it is equally important for us to remember God. To remember that our God is sovereign over all that is in us and around us.

He is not only a God who has control over the good but he also has control over the bad. He holds the whole world in His hands.

You need to remember that the storm doesn't control what God can do in your life, God controls what the storm can do in your life.

No matter what you face, an undecided future, an unstable present or an unpleasant past, you can soar over it by knowing and remembering that the one who holds you is sovereign over all.

2) We need to be thankful in all the circumstances

For this very reason, Paul tells the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 5 :16-18 to rejoice always, pray continually, and then to give thanks to God in all circumstances.

a) When you know all that you have is His and he is sovereign over all, you will know that he has selflessly given you all that you need for each day. So thankfulness is bound to overflow from your heart.

This realization of the selfless love of God and His sovereignty will put away every pride of your heart and even in the highest peaks of your life thankfulness will abound out of gratitude towards God.

Thanking God will no more be a staple part of your prayer, but it will be an overflow of gratefulness to God.

b) Again, even in the times when the world around is crumbling down, you are facing tough situations and victory seems impossible, knowing that God is sovereign over the everything will turn your sorrow into joy and confusion to peace.

This joy and peace cannot well up to anything but thankfulness, which will overflow from your heart even in the midst of the storm.

GIVE THANKS EVEN WHEN EVERYTHING FALLS APART, BECAUSE HE IS STILL IN CONTROL

So, it's not only in the good times that we thank God or it's not only in the tough times that we acknowledge God – this is not what God has asked us to do. Instead He wants us to be with him in every step of our life – the good times and the bad times.

This is God's will that we thank Him in every moment of our life by realizing that He is in complete control of everything.