When God speaks

Christian leadership does not demand or require secular Employee or Employer relationship model, In fact it requires Christ defined Servant and Servant hood model.

The only Boss in picture is Christ and we all are disciples who follow Him in His footsteps in serving others.

Jesus Christ defined servants/disciples and never leaders anywhere and any servant of God who claims to be Humble and serving God's people must be careful not to thrust this idea of worldly leadership unto the congregation and demand any sort of personal respect or favors. A worthy servant (not leader) will surely get His own well deserved respect first from the God Himself and then from God's people also for sure.

Remember Respect and Accolades of people may not guarantee the respect from God as well. Every Servant of God must take time to reflect to probe if his/her modus operandi follows genuine Christ centered biblical pattern of servant-hood or man made leadership formats and formulas.

So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish." - Jonah 1:6
When nation perishes in moral depravity, natural calamities and people at large are in great turmoil then God's children can't afford to be slack in their Social, Moral and Spiritual responsibilities. Christians should Pray and Endeavor to make sure that God and even nations, should Not ask us one day "Why were you sleeping when you should have been standing in the gap?"

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear..." - 1 John 4:18

The part of the problem why most contemporary Christians still Fear and get anxious by things around them is because their Love for God is still not perfected.

This may be alright as long as we Christians strive hard enough with every life experience to grow in our Love for our God and Trust him more deeply.

There is great need to remind ourselves daily that God has not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power, Love and Self-Control [2 Timothy 1:7]

We all need to "Grow Through" by what we "Go Through" ...

"Why would we want Fame, when God promises us Glory? Why would we be seeking the wealth of the world when the wealth of heaven is ours? Why would we run for a crown that will perish with time, when we're called to win a crown that is imperishable?" - Paul Washer

Those who serve the living God must take care not to do things that they do in order to get the reward of human fame (John 12:43) because then they will miss the reward of God in their lives. Even our Christ seemed to be more concerned about this than many other things. (Matthew 6)

"If Christian leaders and believers alike can make their attitude godly toward Money and Fame then there is nothing that can stop them in aligning rest of their lives completely with the will of God." -ST 

(Hebrews 13:5, John 12:43, Proverbs 25:27)

If serving the Lord just becomes a vain endeavor of ticking boxes against the projects we undertake in name of building the kingdom of God, rather than focusing on winning the lost souls and equally importantly sustaining the saved ones till the end, then sadly one day our failures to meet the accountability towards God's people will find us hangdog and shamefaced before our God.
-Santosh Thankachan

If in Christian circles Money starts uniting people more than the Love of God then that's the sure sign of drifted Trust from our God towards the World.
Whom do we serve God or Mammon (Matthew 6:24)?

Prophecy is not about declaring the words of blessing and sharing soothing words to please men. But instead prophecy is to see things in black and white through God's Holy Spirit and sharing boldly with others for their honest edification. The overall motive of any prophetical office is not to stop people from leaving the churches but to encourage them to genuinely repent of their personal Sins, assert spiritual discipline and avoid getting ultimately Driven Out from the Presence of God.
-Santosh Thankachan

When after celebrating the Glory of the Grace of God we find way too much self congratulatory glory taking by a person who seem to need "More Acclaim" than he actually deserve and if there is way too self referencing involved in one's Christian ministry, then that can be indisputable sign of one's failing to recognize his Bias and own Spiritual Blindness. Such a person can never be Right or Honest with God no matter what he claims. One will be tempted to be less than honest about what's really going on in his heart and ministry.
In the light of above premise we have to understand that the underlying danger is if one is too caught up in searching his own will then he will never find the secret of discovering God's divine will.
-Santosh Thankachan

A man's character is like a fence. It cannot be strengthened by whitewash
Just like a Fence cannot be made stronger by mere whitewashing it, the character of a Christian cannot be made stronger by mere whitewashing it outwardly with Christian doctrines and teachings. A Christian's character must be Rooted, Built and Established in Faith on Christ (Colossians 2:7) and must be inspired by sincere and selfless Love for each other (John 15:12)

 

Its easy to wake up a person who is sleeping but its hard to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep. - Santosh Thankachan

 

The dilemma of Christianity is not only that, it lacks Sheep who know their Bibles well, but also that it has plenteous Shepherds who know the Bible Front and Back, but fail to live the life that they recite so easily to others.
-Santosh Thankachan

 

   

Children generally has an inherent inclination to Act and Think immaturely and its only the parental discipline that can help a child get rid of his/her follies (Proverbs 22:15). When parents bow down to ill-timed spiritual decisions of children, they are taking huge risks that 'May' result in Moral Apostasy and irreversible Spiritual collapse which not only impact the lives of Children but also the Family as a whole. Parents must understand that their moral obligation is not only to teach their children to Count but also to teach what 'Ultimately Counts in Life'.

In the presence of God, an outcome of Subtle Wickedness is same as the flagitious ones. It does not matter who does it, but if it hurts God's Holy Spirit and God's children, it surely invites God's wrath.
The challenge for us Christians is to find out the subtle ones (like James 2:9, Proverbs 27:2, Proverbs 20:10 ...) that often go unnoticed and has hurt others but may invite God's anger if not Repented instantly.
-ST

 

Today Enemy is deceiving Christians to an extent that even "God's approval" is being replaced by the "Accolades of crowd", "Number of twitter followers" and "Number of likes" that one gets on His profile picture, online messages or even songs they sing. Its sad that many neglect the severe scriptural cautions given in 2 Timothy 3:2-4 that "People will be lovers of themselves ... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.".
Its really disappointing to see how Satan is able to deceive God's people through subtle tools like Facebook, twitter, Instagram etc. to showcase their own "Love of Self" with "Rest of the World", sometimes even in the pretext of "doing God's work". Its high time for every Christian to honestly evaluate, if these tools are paralyzing one's Godly character and Testimony in Christ.
Lets be prayerful and prudent enough to hide from every spiritual dangers (Proverbs 22:3) that awaits us during these End Times.
- Santosh Thankachan

 

 

Christians are learning to be shrewd enough in
Rejecting God's commandments, Being part of every
Worldly wickedness and then feigning to attribute
every Worldly success as God given to show
their allegiance to Christian Faith.

"If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk
in darkness, we lie and do not practice the Truth." - 1John 1:6
Repent for the Kingdom of God is Near !!
-Santosh Thankachan

 Every time we Christians boasts about our 'Spiritual Achievements' without giving Glory to God we demolish our accumulated spiritual work (1 Corinthians 3:13) with our own hands and we have to literally start building from scratch again. It should not surprise us Christians when on judgement day, we find that there is no work left from our side to be tested and be duly rewarded (1 Corinthians 3:14) due to our own arrogant boasting and belittling of fellow human beings through superfluous spiritual comparisons.
-Santosh Thankachan

 

"Taking pride in being on a Church Roll but never zealous enough to take any Role for Kingdom of God, may keep your membership in Church register only and it won't be transferred to 'The Book of Life' of the Lamb."
- Santosh Thankachan

  

"A genuine Christian with a heart empty of all wickedness and filled with Christ's Love should be able to achieve any spiritual goals for the glory of God." - Santosh Thankachan

 

Dilemma of a Modern Christian:
We know enough Word to make us Argumentative
but not enough to help ourself change.
We have enough Knowledge to make us Religious
but not enough to make us Godly.
We have enough Reasons for being critical about others
but never enough to be Compassionate.
We have enough Wisdom to say that we are Right
but never enough to Say "God I'm Sorry".
We have enough Friends who leads us astray
but never enough who builds us Spiritually.
We have enough Talents to score point over others
but never enough to Serve one another.
We have enough Achievements to fill ourselves with Self-Glory
but not enough to make us Holy.
We have enough Time to attend all our Needs
but never enough to Seek God in Worship.
...
God please help us to have enough
but plenteous enough to 'Please You' in all the ways of our Life.
- Santosh Thankachan

When we become strangely silent on increasing interference of Worldly norms into Church culture and don't address it Prayerfully, Wisely and in God's Love then it will soon become a deadly snare in which not only ourselves but we will find our coming generations as well brutally trapped and suffering.            -Santosh Thankachan

 

We are eager to teach our children to go in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6) but sometimes so much unwilling to go that way first.
-Santosh Thankachan 

 

Hope Thrives When Prayer Strives. - Santosh Thankachan

A Christian when opts to beg emotionally to others, disappoints the Almighty God in atleast 3 ways:
1. By Denying the Power of God to Provide for their lives (2 Timothy 3:5, Titus 1:16)
2. By still being Immature to handle Life's crisis (1 Corinthians 13:11, James 1:2-4)
3. By setting a poor example of Faith and Trust on God (Psalm 78:40-42, Psalms 34:8,9). The difference between Emotional pleading and asking a Fellow christian to Pray is that Former belittles our God who Provides (Jehovah Jireh) while the Latter Glorifies our God Who is Enough (El Shaddai).
- Santosh Thankachan

 

 "Believers if opt to practice Favouritism will fail miserably to build a relationship of Mutual Trust and True Respect for themselves." 

 

“And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by Prayer and Fasting." -Mark 9:29
It seems like many times we miss the whole essence of Fasting and Prayer, perhaps because we have started to become comfortable with "This Kind"

-Santosh Thankachan

A Christian must be careful not to become a manipulator of people in any way and must always be aware of one around him.
You can be classified as a 'Manipulator' when you are using someone for just fulfilling your own selfish goals even though you have no real
liking for the person. On the other hand you can be easily controlled by a 'Manipulator' if you are an "Approval Addict",
as for a manipulator its just a couple of step process to control you: Give what you are dying for (i.e. a false admiration) and then quietly threaten you to take it away.

Christianity still makes sense because it was Christ who:

- Never Judged a person by his/her appearance [Mark 10:46-51]

- Never Looked down with disdain on someone just because
that person does not come to His church [John 4:1-26]

- Never kept back his miracle of Healing, just because the person
does not belonged to His own community [Matthew 15:25-28]

- Shared His Love and Grace with both poor [Luke 14:13] and rich equally [Mark 10:21]

- Chose to Forgive even those whom 'His chosen ones' looks down with contempt. [Luke 7:36-50]

- Proclaim the Truth about Gospel to a lost soul even if there is
no one to acknowledge Him publicly [John 3:1-3]

- Preferred to keep quiet even if He was 'wrongly accused'. [Matthew 27:12]

- Who ranks the Giver on the basis if his/her Intent of giving
and not just Extent of giving [Luke 21:1-4]

- Chose to empty His pockets and desist resources available to Him,
so that He can teach to Serve First [John 13:14] and lead later.

- Eagerly listened to the one who came asking for help and delivered them from
their issues rather than opening His book of sorrows and
issues to make them feel awkward and ignored. [Mark 7:31-37]

...Its a shame that it is we Christians, who at times Disappoint our Christ and Dishonor His name by acting just opposite to His nature and character in our lives.
"World is not disappointed by Christianity, its tired of, us Christians."

The greatest hindrance in appreciating your fellow beings is the spirit of 'Inferiority Complex', 'Counterfeit Competition' and at the root lack of 'Sincere Love' for your fellow beings.  Get rid of these subtle evils and you can see how easy its to 'Accept and Apply' Philippians 2:3 (...but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.) in our lives. -Santosh Thankachan

Thankfulness to God, if not followed by commitment to Obey Him, will tend to stop the continuous supply of God's blessings in our lives.
-Santosh Thankachan

Your Message was effective for God's kingdom when Listeners goes away saying "Can I apply today's message in my life?", rather than saying "Today's message was wonderful". - Santosh Thankachan

 

Disappointed with someone,

Be Compassionate Not Cruel to them. (Ephesians 4:32)

-Santosh Thankachan

We become an effective disciple of Christ, when we learn to gainsay what we say or think about ourselves and rather endeavor towards more on what others testify about us as a Christian.  -Santosh Thankachan

"Every 'Born again' Christian is already called to be a Minister of God (By Commission, Matthew 28:19) and a Royal Priest (By Calling, 1 Peter 2:9).
The only thing left now for us Christians to achieve in this small life is, 

To become A Compassionate individual (1 Peter 3:8), 

An Effective Disciple (John 8:31,32) and 

A Better Christian (Philippians 1:9-11)." 

-ST

"A unique nature of spiritual growth process of a mature Christian is marked by his 'increased' sense of awareness about his sinful expression of flesh that still dwells in him. For instance observe the downward progression of Paul's self awareness from the 'least' of all the apostles (refer 1Corinthians 15:9 written in AD 56), to the 'less than the least' of all the saints (refer Ephesians 3:8 written in AD 60,61) to the 'chief of all sinners' (refer 1Timothy 1:15 written around AD 64). The more we walk humbly with our Christ, the more we understand how wretched and unworthy we still are and how great is our Savior and His never ending mercies towards us. Perhaps the word of God is sometimes ineffective in changing our lives because we fail to personalize it.  We must learn to 'Preach Gospel' first to ourselves just like Paul who makes sure that he applies the word to himself as he did in Galatians 2:20 "the Son of God, who loved 'me' and gave himself for 'me'."

"Its foolishness to claim that one is faithful towards God, when one is habitual of breaking the trust of those who love and respect him." -Santosh Thankachan

"A sermon preached but yet not practiced will fail to touch the hearts of its listeners and will never bring glory to God rather it will become a loathsome sacrifice that will stink on broken altars. One can be theologically astute but still very immature. One can possibly be biblically literate but still in very much need of wisdom to apply the truth in one's own life." -Santosh Thankachan

"I have often felt that when an Atheist asks "Where is your God?" it means even he has an innermost desire to see 'The One' whom he has been rejecting all his life and when an unbeliever asks "Where is your God?" it means he is fed-up with the hand crafted God he has been meaninglessly serving all his life and in his heart even he wants to see the wonder working true living God in all His glory."
-Santosh Thankachan

"A man becomes unrighteous just because of his unholy thoughts but graduates to become a wicked by bringing his unholy thoughts into practice." -Santosh Thankachan (ST)

"If you stand a Yard away from God Today, you will see your kids standing a Mile away from God Tomorrow." -Santosh Thankachan

 

"Where can we find a worshiper who envy a sparrow or a swallow just because of their uninterrupted access to God's altar (Psalm 84:3). Our Genuineness in worship is not revealed by our physical presence in the church but by our desire of being in His Presence always and behold Him (Psalm 84:10)."  -Santosh Thankachan

 "Seeking Intimacy with God and desiring Fellowship with Him, will make our calling in Christ sure."  -Santosh Thankachan

 

“When we aim for Holiness and a true fellowship of God in our own personal lives, then only we really understand what we actually stand for in our Christian life.” - Santosh Thankachan

The most valuable treasure God has entrusted a shepherd with, is his sheep. No sheep is perfect but if shepherd despises them or adopts a scornful outlook for them then he has already began his downward plunge into faith which if He does not repent instantly, may eventually find himself warring against God himself who is our Good Shepherd.  - Santosh Thankachan

 We can't expect listeners to Humble themselves and Glorify God, if what they are hearing begins with mocking others and ends with untamed judging of fellow beings. - Santosh Thankachan

Act of Trust - Be Still and Know that He is Lord

Act of Trust - Be Still and Know that He is Lord !!

As 21 days of Fasting Prayer is going on in our Church, one thing that God has been teaching me through His Word and His Spirit, is that the very act of humbling yourself and Trusting your lord begins with a physical act of "doing nothing" with your own strength. 

Well that sounds easy - Doing Nothing - We always tend to "Do Nothing" but here the act of "Doing nothing" comes with a price which is sometimes very hard to pay for us Christians.

I was reading through a passage 2 Kings 18 and 19 in which King of Assyria through his servant Rabshakeh was trying to threaten King Hezekiah and his people with dire consequences if they do not submit or surrender to King Sennacherib of Assyria. The pride and the arrogance of King Assyria was quite evident in his words when he said "Has any of the Gods of the nations at all delivered its land from his hand" (Chapter 18:33, 35)

One thing that King of Assyria overlooked in his foolishness, was that of challenging the Living God. He was right in some way because as we read in chapter 19:18 that King Assyria was able to defeat nations which have Gods made with hands using wood and stone. But it seems that he bite off more than he can chew. 

As the story unfolds one particular verse that made me pause and think more in terms of our own life was Chapter 18:36 which said "But the people held their peace and answered him not a word..."

Now this something which becomes a tough challenge for us Christians, keeping quite and listening to all insult, wrong accusations and threats . Remember your Christ how he kept quiet and bore all insults during  His trials (Isaiah 53:7, 1Peter 2:23,...)

King Hezekiah showed practically what every christian must do when they face such situations. He preferred to Pray and give everything in the hands of God as we read in 2 Kings 19:14 "And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord". Then began the process of praying to God with a broken and contrite heart. I was wondering what fasting is successful if we don't learn to surrender ourselves in the hands of God and holding our peace. 

The physical acts like Hezekiah did by spreading the letter before God may look bit superstitious but these are evoked or prompted by strong faith and intensity of prayer passion. How do you surrender before God? Do we spread our very own situations before God?

Psalm 46:10 Says "Be still, and know that I am God...". Let these Fasting and Praying be the times of staying still in the presence of God and let the spirit of God do the talking. 

God knows why your heart is crying, what Pain is too much for you to bear, your family struggles, your financial issues, your job challenges, concern about your children future, your fall from grace and even your hidden sins. Spread it before God and let God take control of your life and allow him to take you through His own channels of divine blessings and glorious victories in your life.

To Moses, God said in Exodus 14:14 "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." 

Is it too hard for us to hold our peace and let God do His work in His own ways.

As the story ended, the outcome of Hezekiah's petition to God was that the angel of Lord went out and killed one hundred and eighty five thousand of people in the camp of Assyrians (19:35) and Sennacherib King of Assyria was killed by his own sons (19:37). No trumpets blown, No weapons used and Not even a single soldier moved and God gave a victory to Hezekiah that he could have never imagined. 

Your battles can have the same outcome too. Is there anything too hard for our Lord (Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:27)? 

Lets all Pray that our Faith may reach a level where we can learn to hold our Peace, Learn to spread our petitions sincerely before God, honestly confess our sins and witness God's miracles in our own life. 

May this fasting prayer Bring you more closer to your God and fill you with Joy and Peace in your life. 

I would like to conclude my thoughts with a promise that is only for you and you alone.

1 Corinthians 2:9 "However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" - the things God has prepared for those who love him"

God Bless You !!

In Him,

Bro. Santosh Thankachan

East or West, God's Will is the Best

I know title may contain little humor but to be candid I did find it apt for our little discussion here today. For Last few days I have been listening and meditating the Word of God revolving around the decisions made by few servants of God and how it impacted their whole life. Please read with me Genesis 13:8 onwards. We could see that there was a little strife among the men of Abram and his nephew Lot and to avoid any further disputes, Abram offered a seemingly sensibly solution (V 8,9) to Lot that  "Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.". I want you to be in Lot's place for a moment and consider what options you might have had when Abram told that  its time to part ways. I thought of following four options might have opened in front of Lot.

Option 1: Take the best land and move towards it (as Lot ultimately did)
Option 2: To please his uncle Abram (so that he should not feel bad), make a self-sacrifice and take the lesser fertile plains and move towards that land.
Option 3: To stick to his uncle Abram, and ask him to make peace among their herds somehow and move forward in harmony together.
Option 4: Pray to God and ask for His guidance that if separation is inevitable then what is God's plan for his life and his family.

Bible says that Lot was a righteous man and I know you may think that since it was Abram who asked him to separate and so what Lot did is right after all as he had to choose what is good for him. And as expected, Verse 13 says that "So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out towards the East.". Bible clearly says "He Chose for himself".

I am sure every christian at sometime of his/her life are presented with an option to Choose for themselves. But as Proverbs 14:12 says "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.", Something similar happened with Lot also as we could see in later chapters that the Land turned out to be a curse for him eventually.  He suffered Shame, Loss of his Inheritance, Loss of his dear Wife and even Loss of his Dignity.

Now consider another example from the Bible that we read in 1 Kings 17. Elijah after prophesying against King Ahab that there will no Rain or Dew again except at his word (v 1), we can see that immediately God commanded him to Leave and move towards "East". v2,3 "Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: Leave from here, turn Eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan" and we can see there How God himself provided for him through Ravens (V4) during those times when there was famine in the whole land.

If you observe these two cases, in First example "Lot Chose for himself and set out towards the East" and in Second example, "The word of the LORD came to Elijah and told him to Turn Eastward". What I concluded is that its not the Place (as in here direction East) which has got problems but it was how the Choice was made by these servants of God.

If we depend upon our own wisdom and Choose for ourselves then rest assured howsoever the Opportunity, Place or People looks good initially it won't be fruitful for us in the long run and may even result in our Spiritual devastation.
While on the other hand if we let God make a choice for ourselves (when we are presented with a choice to make), we can see God's mighty Hand of deliverance and provisions for us even if our wisdom may go against that decision initially.

I may sound bit philosophical here when I say that every Decision or Choice that we make, we must make according to God's divine will. It may even sound bit impractical as well at times to ask for God's will in every small and sometimes trivial decisions of life but let me boldly assure you that every decision that you make according to God's will, releases God's provisions for you and you will find His mighty hand sustaining you at every step there after till your goals are accomplished.

I would like to agree with Jim Elliot "God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him."

Next time when you are faced with making a Choice in your Personal, Spiritual, Financial or Family life, try asking God's will sincerely and make a Choice that pleases Him.
I'm sure you will see that your life will never be the same again if we move ahead in our christian life with this attitude in Christ.

I pray that God may help each one of you to make Choices in life that are driven only by His Will.

God Bless You,

In His Vineyard,
Bro. Santosh Thankachan

True Exaltation

True Exaltation !!

The only address and background that we know about Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of God in Old Testament history is "And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead" -1Kings 17:1
No Family background and No qualifications to boast but Yet this man of God was exalted highly among all known prophets and was even one of two persons who never saw death and was taken to Heaven in a flaming chariot.

The reason I concluded for the exaltation of this Humble servant of God is that he stood up boldly for God and His true Worship in a time when idolatry was ruling over the land and when wickedness of men was growing leaps and bounds under the rule of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel.

Sometimes feel disappointed and sad when I see people of God all around us trying to establish their own identity using their own means without knowing that true Exaltation actually belongs to God. Many christian Ministers in today's Christian world are striving so hard to do their own ministry but not to do God's work according to His will, Forgetting that its too dangerous as well as unfruitful to do God's work with our own strength and wisdom, as the only outcome will be a life full of disappointments and Spiritual devastation. Bible says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time" -1Peter 5:6

I like what Servant of God, Anil Kant says here "Serving the Lord is not by COMPETITION, but by CALLING.. We don't do things because others are doing it, but because the Holy Spirit is leading us..!!! NOT BY IMITATION, BUT BY ANOINTING.."

We must remind ourselves the most important message of Christ:
"The time has come," He said. "The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and Believe the Good news!" -Mark 1:15

The world is preparing itself for a mighty Revival in days ahead. I pray and believe that we are going to witness the same soon. The only thing we need to do is "Repent, Believe and Be Ready..."

"He that hath an Ear, let him Hear..."