Lenten Meditation 2020

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.  Hebrews 11:5-6 The American sitcom FRIENDS was a craze for both my sister and myself. I am reminded of one scene wherein Joey and Chandler wait too long to buy Christmas gifts? They end up having to buy gifts from a gas station. They give Rachael wiper blades and an air freshener. When Rachel reminds them that she does not even own a car, Joey says, "Well, now you can pretend you do!"   One of the keys to a good relationship is knowing what kind of gift pleases the one you love. And this is true of our relationship with God as well. What pleases Him? That’s an important question. This verse for our meditation tells us what pleases Him....

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.  Mark 1:35 F.B. Meyer , the author of, The Secret of Guidance said, " The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer. Instead of it being something we do everyday, like breathing, eating and walking and talking, it seems to have become like that little glass covered box on the wall that says, "break in case of emergency ." Sad to say but it is true that so very often we associate prayer with crises in our life. Prayer was the first thing Jesus did, “early” in the morning. It was the most important thing He did because Jesus believed that everything else He would do later in the day would be determined by this. In Mark 1:29 following we see that Jesus had been ministering to people at Simon’s house until very late the night before. People were crowding in. Everyone probably assumed that He wou...

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  1 Peter 2:25 When I was in Ludhiana I had to travel many times to Jammu. On the way we could see many sheep being led by shepherds. It was a wonderful sight to watch. Sometimes I would stop to just see the shepherd leading them. Sometimes the sheep are about 500 in number. Hearing the voice of horn or vehicles the sheep sometimes get scattered. But as soon as the shepherd raises his stick and shouts they all run back to the same direction and field where they are supposed to be.   The Bible repeatedly says that we as mankind are just like sheep. Sheep tend to go astray, even when they know they shouldn’t, and we as God’s sheep do the same thing too.Like sheep, we “stray” away from our “Shepherd.” God gave us certain limits, or boundaries, that we were supposed to stay within and those boundaries are His commandments. But like sheep, we have “strayed” from His bou...