Imbroglio

Ever met people so voluble and superfluous, they just have to speak so that their voice could be heard by everyone in the room even if the matter was irrelevant, obsolete or worst, inaccurate?

People who continuously backpedals, shifting grounds according to what their bosses want instead of being doughty enough to stand by their original decision?

People who fawn over bosses and VIPs, and behave like obsequious, servile, complaisant sycophants in front of them?

People with megalomania tendencies to waste funds on superfluous and counterproductive workshops just to host multiple organisation?

How can I deal with such odium?

I often strive to be perfect, longing to be the best instrument of God, the flawless disciple and in the path of achieving that epitome of Catholicism, I push myself up the mountain, higher and higher, believing rightfully that there is only forward to go. Yet, what I have yet to understand that God is not calling me to be perfect, but to grow in human perfection to be more like him.

9am
Even as we approach Good Friday & Easter, we must be reminded of God’s great love for us and also find our hope and security in what He has done for us. When God sent Jesus to die for us out of love, He did not let Him die as an end in itself – but He broke all human barriers, such as mortal death and even man-imposed obstacles like the sealed tomb (Matthew 27:62-66)! Jesus’ resurrection gives us the courage to call ourselves “more than conquerors” (Rom 8:37), as we ground ourselves in His love for us and His power to overcome the ‘Jerichos’ that we come to face in our lives. May we encounter Him in a new & refreshing way this weekend :)
I’d like to leave you with a few words by Ruth Stull of Peru: “If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it is because pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will satisfy only a little lad.”
Elisabeth Elliot: ‘What kind of a God is it who asks everything of us? The same God who “…did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all; and with this gift how can He fail to lavish upon us all He has to give?”
He gives all.

10am
“I advise you to obey only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do, and then you won’t always be doing the wrong things your evil nature wants you to.” (Galatians 5:16)

To walk in the Spirit is a challenging and inspiring exercise, for it combines activity with relaxation. To walk means to place one foot in front of the other. If you stop doing this, you are no longer walking—you are standing still. Walking always implies movement, progress, and direction. Sin shall no longer rule or dominate you when you are allowing the Holy Spirit to live Christ’s life through you. It is living by faith, living by trust, living in dependence upon God.

If we look to our own resources, our own strength, or our own ability, as Peter did when he walked on the water, we will fail. You cannot live the Christian life by yourself. The Holy Spirit must live in you and express Himself through you. Living for Christ is a day-by-day experience. It is a continuous dependence upon the Spirit of God. It is believing in His faithfulness.

11am

“God called unto him and he said, Here am I.” (Exodus 3:4)
When God speaks, many of us are like men in a fog, we give no answer. Moses’ reply revealed that he was somewhere. Readiness means a right relationship to God and a knowledge of where we are at present. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. The man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who carries off the prize when the summons comes.
We wait with the idea of some great opportunity, something sensational, and when it comes we are quick to cry – “Here am I.” Whenever Jesus Christ is in the ascendant, we are there, but we are not ready for an obscure duty. Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God’s programme may be we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself we hear God’s voice as Our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him.
Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. “That they may be one, even as We are one.”
Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready when God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the ready soul, it is ablaze with the presence of God.

12noon
The following passage gives us insight into how to ensure we are useful & fruitful in our daily lives on this earth which we are but passing through :)

“May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort [apply all diligence] to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
(2 Peter 1:2-11)

1pm
One reason why Jesus entered on a donkey has reference to King David. Before King David died, one of his sons, Adonijah, tried to usurp the throne. So, to tell the people that his son Solomon was the one he had appointed the real king, he had Solomon enter the city on David’s mule and the priests blow the trumpets & anoint him with oil (1 Kings 1:33-34). The people immediately abandoned Adonijah for the real king.
Similarly, when God planned for Jesus to ride in on the mule, He was turning the people from the false authorities of the day, the Pharisees, to the real King. God’s plan for our salvation was so perfectly & intricately woven through the ages!
As easter approaches, as we celebrate the day our Saviour & Sovereign Lord resurrects to carry out God’s salvation plan for mankind, let us spread our garments & palm branches at His feet, worshipping and welcoming Him, proclaiming, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!!”

2pm (Afternoon Prayer)
“Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that ‘we all have knowledge’ about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.
So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for Him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are
violated. It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do.
But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ.
So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.
(1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

Dear Father, the one real and only God,Give me more love and humility than knowledge, for “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up.” People know lots of things, but they let it go to their heads. Help
me, Father, never to imagine that I know everything, because I know that I do not yet know as I ought to know. What I want is to love you as I should, for if I love you, then I am loved and known by you. All the things that men and women pursue, O God, seem to have no real existence when compared to you. There is no God but you, the one God.
The world is full of “gods”. But for us Christians there is just one God, you, from whom all things come and for whom they exist, and there is just one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.In the name of Jesus and by His authority I ask these things according to His will. Amen.

5pm

“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.” (Psalm 22:14)

Did earth or heaven ever behold a sadder spectacle of woe! In soul and body, our Lord felt himself to be weak as water poured upon the ground. The placing of the cross in its socket had shaken him with great violence, had strained all the ligaments, pained every nerve, and more or less dislocated all his bones. Burdened with his own weight, the august sufferer felt the strain increasing every moment of those six long hours. His sense of faintness and general weakness were overpowering; while to his own consciousness he became nothing but a mass of misery and swooning sickness. When Daniel saw the great vision, he thus describes his sensations, “There remained no strength in me, for my vigour was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength:” how much more faint must have been our greater Prophet when he saw the dread vision of the wrath of God, and felt it in his own soul! To us, sensations such as our Lord endured would have been insupportable, and kind unconsciousness would have come to our rescue; but in his case, he was wounded, and felt the sword; he drained the cup and tasted every drop.

“O King of Grief! (a title strange, yet true – To thee of all kings only due)
O King of Wounds!
How shall I grieve for thee, Who in all grief preventest me!”
As we kneel before our now ascended Saviour’s throne, let us remember well the way by which He prepared it as a throne of grace for us; let us in spirit drink of His cup, that we may be strengthened for our hour of heaviness whenever it may come. In His natural body every member suffered, and so must it be in the spiritual; but as out of all His griefs and woes his body came forth uninjured to glory and power, even so shall his mystical body come through the furnace with not so much as the smell of fire upon it.

6pm (Evening Prayer)
Passage: Luke 8:4-15

“And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.” (Luke 8:15)

The Parable of the Sower, sometimes called the Parable of the Soils, is one of the most familiar in the Gospels. In this parable, a farmer sows seeds broadly, scattering them on the footpath and the rocks, among the thorns and on fertile soil. Of course, only the seed that fell on fertile soil produces a bountiful harvest. Jesus explained the meaning of this parable in terms of the variety of soils. Each kind of soil represents people who respond differently to God’s word. The “fertile soil” folks are those with good hearts “who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest” (8:15).
Today, I am struck by an assumption Jesus made in telling this parable. It’s obvious, but easily missed. The assumption is this: We are meant to live fruitful lives.
Jesus takes it for granted that our purpose in life is not just to get along, not just to
survive. Rather, we are to bear fruit, and plenty of it.

His assumption goes back to the very creation of man and woman. There, human beings were made by God in God’s own image so that we might “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). Though sin compromises our ability to live the life God intended for us, through Christ, God gives us a fresh start. Thus we read in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” To use the imagery of Luke 8, we have been recreated through Christ so that we might live fruitful lives.
In next Monday’s reflection, I want to consider how we might do this. But today I want to leave you with the encouragement to examine your life prayerfully. Think about how you are living. Ask the Lord for guidance and clarity. You might even want to take time to jot down your thoughts in a journal or share them with a trusted Christian friend. So, in light of the fact that you have been created and recreated in Christ for fruitful
living, consider the following questions.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
Are you living a fruitful life?
As you think about your life, are you accomplishing that for which you have been created?
Are you making a difference for the Lord in your daily work? in your family? among your friends? in your community? in your church?
Are you satisfied with the fruitfulness of your life, or do you feel a deep longing to make a difference in other ways?

PRAYER: Gracious God, thank you for creating me to be fruitful. What an extraordinary privilege and calling to live my life as Your steward, using all the gifts and opportunities and resources You have entrusted to me for good. Moreover, I thank You for creating me anew in Christ, so that I might do the good things you have prepared for me. What an amazing adventure this is!
Help me, I pray, to take an honest look at my life. By your Spirit, show me what I need to see. Am I living fruitfully? Am I bringing forth a great harvest for
you? Am I doing that for which I have been created and called? O Lord, show
me the truth about my life, so that I might live fully and fruitfully for you. Amen.
[Mark D. Roberts]

7pm
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
Hebrew lexicons and commentaries on the Psalms & Proverbs agree that the correct translation of Proverbs 3:6b is: “and He shall make your paths straight, (or) smooth.” The point of Proverbs 3:5-6, then, is that those who trust God, putting their faith in His wisdom rather their own worldly understanding, and acknowledge Him in each & every part of their life, will reap a life that is successful by God’s standards (which will be most important in the light of the coming judgement)! The means by which we acknowledge God in all our ways: Believing and obeying the Word of God & His precepts, rather than trusting and following Man’s finite, worldly philosophy for success & happiness :)

Looking at the matter of God’s guidance in vocational choices, His work in these cases is to incline first our judgment, and then our whole being to the course which of all the competing alternatives, He has marked out as best suited for us, & for His glory and the
good of others through us. Yet the Spirit can be quenched, and we can all too easily, in the frailty of our human nature (even the regenerate human nature), behave in a way which stops this guidance getting through. Some of these main pitfalls will be highlighted over the next few days!
I’m sure the discussion of this matter will be helpful to many of us, especially since it is inevitable that we will be faced with major decisions to make in the course of life, for which we can trust we will be able to make the best choice if we submit to our heavenly Father’s guidance and wisdom ;)
Shalom Aleichem!!

8pm
“I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19)

If we lose the vision, we alone are responsible, and the way we lose the vision is by spiritual leakage. If we do not run our belief about God into practical issues, it is all up with the vision God has given. The only way to be obedient to the heavenly vision is to give our utmost for God’s highest, and this can only be done by continually and resolutely recalling the vision. The test is the sixty seconds of every minute, and the sixty minutes of every hour, not our times of prayer and devotional meetings.
“Though it tarry, wait for it.” We cannot attain to a vision, we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself. We get so practical that we forget the vision. At the beginning we saw it but did not wait for it; we rushed off into practical work, and when the vision was fulfilled, we did not see it. Waiting for the vision that tarries is the test of our loyalty to God. It is at the peril of our soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical work and miss the fulfilment of the vision.
Watch God’s cyclones. The only way God sows His saints is by His whirlwind. Are you going to prove an empty pod? It will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of what you have seen. Let God fling you out, and do not go until He does. If you select your own spot, you will prove an empty pod. If God sows you, you will bring forth fruit.
It is essential to practise the walk of the feet in the light of the vision.

9pm
“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” – (2 Timothy 2:1)

Christ has grace without measure in Himself, but He hath not retained it for Himself. As the reservoir empties itself into the pipes, so hath Christ emptied out His grace for His people.
“Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” He seems only to have in order to dispense to us. He stands like the fountain, always flowing, but only running in order to supply the empty pitchers and the thirsty lips which draw nigh unto it. Like a tree, He bears sweet fruit, not to hang on boughs, but to be gathered by those who need. Grace, whether its work be to pardon, to cleanse, to preserve, to strengthen, to enlighten, to quicken, or to restore, is ever to be had from Him freely and without price; nor is there one form of the work of grace which He has not bestowed upon His people.
As the blood of the body, though flowing from the heart, belongs equally to every member, so the influences of grace are the inheritance of every saint united to the Lamb; and herein there is a sweet communion between Christ andHhis Church, inasmuch as they both receive the same grace. Christ is the head upon which the oil is first poured; but the same oil runs to the very skirts of the garments, so that the meanest saint has an unction of the same costly moisture as that which fell upon the head. This is true communion when the sap of grace flows from the stem to the branch, and when it is perceived that the stem itself is sustained by the very nourishment which feeds the branch. As we day by day receive grace from Jesus, and more constantly recognize it as coming from Him, we shall behold Him in communion with us, and enjoy the felicity of communion with Him.
Let us make daily use of our riches, and ever repair to Him as to our own Lord in covenant, taking from Him the supply of all we need with as much boldness as men take money from their own purse.

10pm
“I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe Him. It is that same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead . . . ”
(Ephesians 1:19,20)

Jesus told His disciples that the world would hate them. They would be “as sheep in the midst of wolves.” They would be arrested, scourged, and brought before governors and kings. Even their loved ones would persecute them. As the world hated and persecuted Him, so it would treat His servants.
Thousands of Christians have learned the secret of contentment and joy in trial. Some of the happiest Christians I have met have been life-long sufferers. They have had every reason to sigh and complain, being denied so many privileges and pleasures that they see others enjoy, yet they have found greater cause for gratitude and joy than many who are prosperous, vigorous, and strong.

11pm
We know what it is to be fireproof or to be waterproof. But it is a greater thing to be sin proof. It is possible to be so filled with the Spirit of Jesus that all the shafts of the enemy glance off our heavenly armor. It is possible to so know the presence of Jesus that all the burrs and thistles which grow on the wayside fail to stick to our heavenly robes. All the noxious vapors of the pit disappear before the warm breath of the Holy Ghost, and we walk with a charmed life even through the valley of the shadow of death.The red-hot iron repels the water that touches it and the fingers that would toy with it. If we have been set aflame by the Holy Spirit, Satan will keep his fingers off us, and the cold water that he pours over us will roll off and leave us unharmed. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not (1 John 5:18). Before going into a malarial region, it is well to fortify the system with nourishing food. So we should be fed and filled daily by the life of Christ in such a way that evil cannot invade our lives.

12midnight – Holy Saturday
“He went out, not knowing whither he went.” (Hebrews 11:8)

In the Old Testament, personal relationship with God showed itself in separation, and this is symbolized in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and from his kith and kin. Today the separation is more of a mental and moral separation from the way that those who are dearest to us look at things, that is, if they have not a personal relationship with God. Jesus Christ emphasized this (see Luke 14:26).
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of Faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us “go.” The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.
The final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character. There are many passing transfigurations of character; when we pray we feel the blessing of God enwrapping us and for the time being we are changed, then we get back to the ordinary days and
ways and the glory vanishes. The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. It is not a question of sanctification; but of something infinitely further on than sanctification, of faith that has been tried and proved and has stood the test.
Abraham is not a type of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith, a tried faith built on a real God. “Abraham believed God.”

Jesus tells us that seeds fell on the edge of the path on the rock, among the thorns, and in rich soil. The place at the edge of the path is like the person who stays distant from life. Such a person chooses to be uninvolved, refuses to enter into life, and fears the possible hurt of being a participants rather than a spectator. Such a person may notice life in self and others and then turn from that life because it asks too much to leave the “edge of the path” and enter in.

The place on the rock is like the person who lacks, the non-reflective person, the person who misses the messages that are everywhere because of a superficial non-demanding approach to life.

The place in the thorns is like the person who complicates life by letting everything in. such a person lacks the selectivity and inner resources needed to clarify personal values and to put aside those which are not helpful to life.

The place of the rich soil is like the person who is open and receptive to life. This person takes carefully considered risks but also takes responsibility for life’s direction. This person prepared the rich soil and has recognized the ongoing investment that must be made lest the soil lose its richness.

Jesus makes it clear that the rich soil of the human heart is linked with a difficult human commitment – the commitment to become a listener. His story points out that listening is not something we do so much as it is a way in which we live. He relates this way of living to people who have “noble and generous hearts.” Throughout the pages of Sacred Scripture, there are frequent reminders that personal investment in growing to be a person who listens is a prerequisite for all who would follow God’s call to life.

We miss the message of Jesus’ parable if we put the words aside with some inner decision that some people are “born listeners” and that listening comes easy to them. That is what the parable is all about. No one is a “born listener” anymore than anyone is a “born speaker” or a born Olympic speed skater. Listening, like speaking and speed skating, is demanding, asks personal discipline and a clear commitment to the goal. It demands the personal sacrifice without which one does not listen, speak or skate well.

The longest journey we make is the journey inward.

– Dag Hammarskjold

Beautiful and poetic words. We take these words seriously, and we set out on that journey. When we do, we discover that this journey is made only with great personal investment. While admitting that we need human companionship on that journey we realize that in many ways, we make it alone.

Discovering who we are involves not only knowing who we are and who we are not, it also involves establishing some working relationship, some setting of prioirities between all of our “I am” responses.

Each of us is in a variety of roles. Each of us has many different relationship and responsibilities to ourselves and others. It is the recognition of these roles and the establishing of our own sense of identity that determine who we are. We establish our identity out of a context of ideals and values that we have as these relate to the person we would like to be. Others, in their perceptions of us, tell us who they think they are and who they wish we were.

The way to personal identity and personal integration is a long one. It is not one journey, but many. It involves setting out again and again, in the light of personal growth and in the face of personal disappointment and failure. It asks the courage to believe in the previous gift of the yet undiscovered self. It calls for the risk of reaching out and trusting others along the way. It presupposes the acceptance of God’s love and care for us.

No form of human knowledge is as vital to or so much at the heart of all other discovery as is that of self-knowledge. Unless we know who we are, individually and collectively, all other knowledge risks destroying us or obscuring the best possibilities of the human person. Unless we discover who we are we will have difficulty giving and receiving friendship. It is in the sometimes pain-filled but always life-giving act of offering friendship to another that we and our friend grow in self-knowledge.

The gradual discovery of self, the knowledge of self, accepting self and, finally, loving self are interrelated and inseparable. Each step leads naturally to the next. Each is related to our commitment to friendship. The fear that knowing myself more may mean liking myself less is a crippling phantom. A God who loves us has set in each of us a vast treasure of goodness and possibility. True knowledge of self, a realistic understanding of our gifts and limitations, can lead only towards greater self-respect and love if we are faithful to that which we discover.

Each persion and all people collectively are on a journey. It is a journey on which all are invited to discover the goodness and meaning of life. On this journey, the obstacles overcome and the invitations to life are not ignored. Each person’s journey enriches every other person’s. Each person’s discoveries open new possiblities for all the others.

In all its goodness and pleasures, there is simply no reason why we cannot enjoy life as human beings. Normal beings, each being special in their own way. Sure, with joy comes with ups & downs, but these hurdles are there to make our lives more exciting, more challenging. I am tempted to say, life would be so much better without problems and difficulties. But honestly, I can’t be sure. Will I have grown and mature to who am I today without all the problems I have faced in the last 19 years of my life ? Would I have forged relationships which I came to do so had there not been all the situations I have been placed into ? I would not know, probably never will. What I can be sure to say, is that my life has been enriching in every possible way I enrich another’s. In my journey of helping others, loving others, I discover more about myself. I think I still have a long way more to go, but for now, let me keep that mindset as I go about doing my daily chores.

http://www.teamhoyt.com/

As the Father has loved me,
so I have loved you. Remain in my love… This is my commandment:
Love one another as I have loved you…
I shall not call you servants any more.. I call you friends,
because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.

John 15: 9, 12, 15
Jesus’ call to us to “love one another as I have loved you” carries with it certain clear implications about the cost of loving. Warmth and tenderness were a way of life for Jesus. He reminds us the risk dimension of love. Reaching out to another places us in a position of vulnerability, a position of possible rejection. The life of Jesus calls for commitment. Loving is no superficial venture. The reassurance that comes to us from Jesus gives strength. His life says to us, “I have done this and so I know that you can do it, too.”

There are so many stories in the gospels that exhibits Jesus’ unconditional love for the people around him; these people were no short of disabilities, and these people were those who despised him. it is remarkable, how he welcomes strangers, and how evokes in the people he meets qualities which reveal to us what lies at the heart of our love for God and each other. He reassures us that every effort to love ourselves and others more faithfully, however imperfectly we are able to do this, is a response to God’s call to love as he loved. It is a response to God’s call to the two great commandments as they stand in relationship to one another.