Tithes And Gifts And Offering

Remember this chapter is about the offering to Lord and giving to needy. This isn’t about tithes. The Bible clearly differentiates between tithes and offering/giving. Before we go any further let’s us see what tithes and offerings are according to the Bible.

Tithes

Leviticus 27:30-34
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD.
And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy into the LORD.
He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it t all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.

Giving

2 Corinthians 9:7
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Sticking purely to the topic of offering/giving, it’s imperative to understand that we should be cheerful givers rather than forced givers. If God has supplied us enough then, we should also help people through our generosity so that eventually they understand that all this is because Jesus has given us sufficient means to meet our needs. Problem arises when we start evaluating how much we have in terms of our desires and not needs. Our desires are ever increasing and never ending but our needs are always basic and always being sufficed by the Lord. An exuberant giver is always appreciated and acknowledged. The giver should decide himself in heart keeping Jesus as his witness as to how much he could spare and how much he could help others with. Taking care of each other in Christ, through helping in needs is one of the instructions given in the Bible to us.

1 John 3:17-19
But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
When we are in a situation to help people, and still choose not to, citing our crisis of “desires not getting fulfilled”, how would we be able to say that God’s love resides in us; How would we be able to say that we love Christ and we are Christians? We won’t have any right to call our self followers of Jesus because we fail in adhering to his basic commandment. Loving someone through mere words or speech isn’t enough, as the Bible also says that we should love others by our actions as well. Our act of supporting them when they require us, not only uplifts them but also strengthens their faith in the Lord. They get the assurance that Lord through us is helping them and answering their prayers, which indeed is true because he only gave us enough to support our needs and help our fellow brother in need. Only then can we say truly say that we follow Jesus because now we would be adhering to his instructions in the Bible. And when we uphold his instructions given to mankind, he blesses us; not only by giving us eternal life but also by bestowing his blessings upon us here on earth.

Proverbs 11:25
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
God also looks at our heart and he knows what is cooking inside us. If we genuinely love Jesus, we would love our neighbors and also would help a needy person without having any expectations to get something in return and that’s when our Lord will bless us immensely because we are loving one another purely because our savior Jesus has instructed us to do. Following his instructions and commandments without having an iota of doubt is all that he wants from us. The happiness the needy person gets, when he is being helped out from his trouble is simply impeccable because he could have been coming to a point of breaking in life, but since we helped that person, through the Grace of God, his faith in Lord grew and our Heavenly Father got glorified through this act of ours which in true sense was inspired by him only. Also, the help whether big or small doesn’t make any difference to the Lord because your intentions are more important to him rather that the quantum.

2 Corinthians 8:12
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Also, the Bible tell us, to share or give others excess of what we have and not what we don’t have. This is simply because the Lord has blessed you with certain things which you require and our Heavenly Father understands it, however, if we give it to others without sufficing our needs (not desires), we would tend to dishonor his blessing for our needs. Whether giving a gift or correcting a mistake, the Bible tells us to firstly look at ourselves; correct what’s wrong in us and then help others for the same.

Luke 6:42
Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out the first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.
So the point which Jesus makes here is to first correct your mistakes or in terms of giving first fulfil the needs (not desires) for which the Lord has blessed you with and then definitely help others. Don’t try to show off by helping others without correcting yourself. That is sheer hypocrisy in the eyes of God. Keep the intentions of giving Holy, let the glory belong to God and don’t try to transgress the moral line. Apart from it another important point which Jesus reflected upon in giving was that of keeping secrecy.

Matthew 6:2-4
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, a the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Keeping secrecy in giving is essentially a nature attributed to people who actually follow Jesus, rest who try and blow the trumpet either at or after giving are impostors to say the least. Keeping the act closet is also imperative for keeping the dignity of the receiver intact. Jesus also maintains the fact that our Heavenly Father is watching our actions and knows our scheme of things;which if found to be foul play would be counted against us. However, the rewards which our Heavenly Father would give for our generosity (Holy generosity) will be duly rewarded not in secret but openly. The world would see the blessings of the Heavenly Father upon us.
Sometimes, we miss the bigger picture of attaining the eternal life in heaven with Jesus, but all our mindset is on the short term goal of acquiring admiration from humans to inflate our false sense of self-esteem. God also uses us as a vessel to win souls and that is the reason he gives us abundantly so that we could help the poor and needy in their requirements and eventually their prayers get answered.

2 Corinthians 9:11
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
The needy will surely be thanking God for sending us as his help and ultimately our Heavenly Father’s name will be glorified which is absolutely fitting because the bottom line is that we get our needs satiated through him only and he alone has the power to fulfill our needs and desires. A generous heart is cherished everywhere, even among non-believers. Through our non corrupted generosity, we are able to showcase the true and pure Love of Jesus that resides in us and through our act of giving we can motivate them to seek the Lord and save their lives.
So next time you decide to give make sure that your heart is happy for doing an act of charity and remember that through you, our Lord is getting glorified.

Art of Keeping Silent

Our tongue is the biggest enemy of our peace. It can destroy us from in and out. If not tamed correctly, it can ruin years and years of hard work. Silence, is one of the major tools of getting close to Lord, as the tongue is the weapon used by the satan to pull us down in God’s eye but silence is its antidote.

Exodus 14:14
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Whenever we are in a tricky situation, the Lord knows our situation very well, but our decision to allow the Lord or the satan to govern the situation decides whether we would come out of it successfully or not. Wisdom by god would compel us to maintain peace and silence whereas, satanic forces would force us to retaliate and open our mouth to speak evil words. To be tranquil is an art and a habit that can come only through seeking Lord in our lives. We tend go astray and lose our temper in trying circumstances. Whereas, the true mettle and character of a person is being reflected only when he faces uncomfortable situations. More demanding the situation, more tempted are you by satan to burst open your mouth with anger or evil words. Satan will keep on fusillading with duplicitous situations. But, a person in and with Jesus would understand the circumstances and will act peacefully and silently because those are the traits of wisdom given by the Lord. What must be understood is to use the words wisely and sparingly. One can’t display eloquence in speech and highest level of vocabulary thinking it to be wise, because ironically what matters, is the words being given by Lord to speak. If Lord wants us to stay calm in certain situations, we have to adhere to his commandments instead of showing our narcissism. Our rush to react lands our lives in mess and impels us to go against Jesus.

James 1:19
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
In today’s scenario, people are extremely impatient to listen, but eager to react. Whereas the Bible commands us the right way for approaching situations. It tells us to listen a lot so as to avoid misunderstandings and to grab most of the things said. Once we understand what precisely has been said then only we should open our mouth to speak and that too only if required. Once we decide to speak, recall the Bible and Jesus commandment to love each other as yourself and then carry on with the words chosen carefully and given to us by the Holy Spirit. And lastly, we should be extremely slow to get angry. What we follow is complete reverse of this cycle, we become angry extremely fast, we are eager to speak and extremely poor at listening. Are these the traits of a person who follows Jesus and who reads the Bible, certainly not. The reverse cycle is surely devilish in nature and is being prompted by satan. Whereas, if we listen to the Holy Spirit, our wisdom would be showcased through our silence in trying conditions. We are all humans, so the age old idiom of “to err is human” applies, however, a person who constantly seeks the Lord and reads the Bible, is being governed by the Holy Spirit and is being blessed with the wisdom of knowing and tackling the situations in a way pleasing to God. Satan will try to beguile us as he did to Adam and Eve. A cool and calm head is always a sign of wisdom and knowledge bestowed upon us by God.

Proverbs 17:27
He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
In worldly surrounding and company, using words sparingly might be considered as a weakness but certainly not in spiritual terms. A man with few words but wise words is being appreciated everywhere, even among pagans, gentiles and non believers. Calmness, is a virtue for which people spend a fortune to learn, but we as believers can have that virtue literally free of cost, all we need to do is follow Jesus and remember his commandments and instructions given in the Bible. Many worldly battles could be won by just merely being silent and many souls could be won for Jesus by using words wisely and at right time. Even when Jesus was being captured and was being accused by chief priests, he didn’t retaliate with anger or evil words. He simply, kept quiet and his cool.

Matthew 27:12
And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
Jesus was wise enough to understand that all this was happening for a reason. It was Heavenly Father’s wish to save mankind of eternal death through his beloved son Jesus. Similarly, lot of times we are not in a desiring situation, but, in the hindsight it is for our own betterment and a plan carefully crafted for us by our Lord for ameliorating our life. Jesus being an obedient son understood the plans of Heavenly Father, similarly when we become obedient children of God, we understand what the Holy Spirit is wanting from us, and we should adhere to instructions given by the Holy Spirit with utmost happiness and selflessness. One among the instructions that the Holy Spirit always instructs us is, not to react in certain unwanting situations, or just maintaining silence in those circumstances, however most of us, we bypass that edict and force ourselves to land in trouble by disobeying. Jesus could have easily freed himself when he was accused because he had the power, however he choose not to because he knew the Heavenly Father’s desires and instructions and obeyed him.
What, when and how we speak leaves a lasting impression on the other person. Therefore, it is imperative to choose and use words wisely as they will eventually decide as to which way the conversation would go. Wisely chosen words blessed by the Holy Spirit, helps us to win souls for the Kingdom and also keeps us in the good books of the other person. Never, be quiet if someone asks about the Lord but instead answer that person with utmost faith and hope that one day he too will be saved, by the Grace of the God.

1 Peter 3:15-16
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Having a good conscience;that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse of your good conversation in Christ.
People who try to belittle us through their cantankerous attitude will not only be defeated but as the Bible says, they would be put to shame because of their malicious heart. The particular verse talks about having a good conscience while talking with others, this is because once a person has a clean and honest conscience he won’t feel offended; which indeed ignites the anger inside the person. Therefore, open up the mouth to praise the Lord, open up the mouth to glorify the Lord, and even sometimes keep silence and peace to glorify the Lord. A nonbeliever can easily be instigated, but in silence search the Lord, in silence search the salvation through Jesus but never get instigated and hyper in trying and unwanting situations as that is the real test of your character in Jesus and temperament towards his commandments.

Parables

Parables were the stories told by Jesus, through which he gave moralistic messages as well as spiritual messages. Some of them are tough to understand and some relatively easier to grasp. Few of the parables have became extremely famous and being preached extensively like - Parable of mustard seed, Parable of Lost sheep, Parable of prodigal (lost) son, being few examples of the widely preached and sorted out parables. Parables have a special importance in the Bible, as they were the meant to give an instant moral teachings to mankind, and also most of them were short and sweet having deep meaning to it.

Matthew 13:13
Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Some people take it this way, that Jesus used parables so that people who are called on by God to have eternal life will get it’s meaning. However, that is not the right perception. Because everyone who came on the earth has a right to know the route of salvation; albeit to follow it or not; that God has kept on our discretion. And Jesus used parables for teaching simply to make the moral teaching more interesting and more memorable. Ofcourse, all the parables had a deep elucidation to it, yet it carried an uncomplicated meaning to it. The way parables were spoken, were authoritative in mannerism yet humble for soul for the betterment of human lives.
When read separately or read entirely with the chapter, it’s core meaning and message remains the same. Parables have an aura around them because of the spiritual and scrupulous essence attached to it. When we read the parables spoken by Jesus Christ, we are always left with a deep impact as it opens up our mind and thinking process.
One of the most examined parables of Jesus is “The parable of Mustard Seed”

Matthew 13:31-32
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
This parable is such an into the face kind of message from Jesus. He compares faith in Jesus for Kingdom of heaven with a seed as tiny as mustard seed. And by sowing he intends to draw a metaphor, wherein he compares “sowing field” to our heart, soul, inner self. Thereby he implies to say that we should sow the seed of faith in our heart which is like a field wherein that seed of faith will grow, infact not only grow but multiply. Also, the mustard seed is extremely tiny, yet when it grows, it’s one of the greatest herbs in the field and when it further grows into a tree it multiplies its own benefit. So, the analogy it draws with the faith in Jesus and humans is that when we sow the seed of faith in our heart, it grows and it multiplies not only to give us eternal life in heaven but also gives us peace and satisfaction and the joy in the Lord here on the earth. Since, the hand of the God will be upon us due to our staunch faith in Jesus, enemy won’t be able to defeat us in his wily games. Lastly, the parable concludes with the great commission that the Bible teaches us, i.e. to spread the gospel. With the birds, Jesus tries to draw a metaphor with humans that would come to us because of our truthful, faithful and obedient nature that they would see in us for the Lord. They would come to enquire because Jesus would use us as his vessel to win souls. They would seek the Lord as we found out Jesus.
Another widely read and preached parable is the “Parable of Prodigal Son”. This particular parable mirrors the immense love that our Heavenly Father has for us. Crestfallen, repented, remorsed people when they turn back to Heavenly Father, he accepts them gracefully. This parable underlines the fact of the immense love bestowed upon us by our Heavenly Father. Whereas, the nature of the elder son who is jealous of the fact that his younger brother, who is being addressed here as the prodigal son returning home; reflects our judgmental character. The elder son unlike his father, isn’t gracious enough to welcome his younger brother, which is in complete contrast to his father’s nature.
Luke 15: 11-32 are the verses which Jesus narrates as the “parable of the prodigal son” to his disciples. Verse 32 echoes the truth that God wants us back and he welcomes with an open heart even if we denied him initially.

Luke 15:32
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Jesus talks here of the love and compassion that our Heavenly Father has for us. What mattered to him was that the prodigal son came back, he turned to his father (a metaphorical figure for Heavenly Father in this parable) when he realized what a blunder of a mistake he had committed. What the father saw in him was his repentance for his mistakes and his willingness to come back to him. In the same parable Jesus metaphorically compares the elder brother to pharisees, who judge people according to law, deeds and it’s consequences. This nature and behavior is complete antithesis to God’s love, care, grace and compassion. If we genuinely repent of our wrong doings and reach out to Lord for his help, there is no way that he would reject us in any way. Our desire to come to Lord vanquished the evil doings and our past and prompts us to turn back to Lord.
This parable is in the same line as the other two parables on lost and found subject, “ The Lost Sheep” and “The Lost Coin”.
Jesus gave so many parables in his lifetime and every parable had a deep moral, spiritual and practical impact whoever read and understood them. Another parable which broke the misconception of many who were being misguided by the pharisees was “What Defiles a Man”.

Matthew 15:11
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
A right into the face kind of parable for so called learned and law keepers of those days, better known as Pharisees and Sadducees. They we way to interested and pressurized people also to obligated their thought that only a well mannered, law abiding person would be welcomed in Heaven. However, Jesus broke the myth by giving this verse and explaining that yes a law abiding person is good for the society but it’s not the prerequisite to enter heaven and to have a life pleasing in the eyes of God. Instead, it the thought process that comes out of our body, mind and spirit that govern us and compels us to behave in a particular way, which eventually leads us to heaven or hell. A person who abides by all the laws, thinks lustfully towards a women or any materialistic covetousness will never be a righteous person in the eyes of God. A man is being defiled by the perceptions and conceptions he has and by the assumptions and presumptions he has, because those are the things which govern his body, mind and spirit and will affect his every action as well as reaction. Therefore, a man should be extra vigilant about his inward thought process. He should pay a close attention to what ideas, suggestions, thinking and questions arise in his heart, because if those are not in line with the commandments from God, he truly will defile himself.
A short moral story sticks in our mind rather than a long moral preaching, and that was the whole and sole reason as to why Jesus gave us so many parables to ponder upon in the Bible. The short one liners or a short story is easily remembered and can seamlessly implemented because of the simplicity in understanding it. Yes of course, to understand it is the first and foremost duty, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we could easily grasp the moral of the story.

Jesus knew that the impact of the parables would be an added advantage to the good news that he started commissioning.
Parables added fuel to the fire for already resented pharisees, whose power and authority was already in a jeopardy. The allegory presented by Jesus started opening eyes of many and they started coming out of the darkness and started accepting the Son of God as the light of this world, which Jesus himself proclaimed.

John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The stronghold of pharisees was starting to crumble against an honest teacher, who made people realize that only law won’t give them the ultimate prize, but a walk with the Son of God, would give them what every individual is destined for. Parables created rumble in the minds and body of the pharisees, as they we the perfect blend of factual and moral oriented diegesis. The gentiles, the Jews, the pagans. the poor, the rich all started getting enlightened with the gospel and the parables including in the gospel. This irked pharisees to an extend that they plotted to crucify Jesus. Many things which pharisees did for showing off their faith were being challenged and put to rest by parables recited by Jesus. One among them is in -

Luke 18:9-14
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous , and despised other;
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Here, the parable speaks about a pharisee who was trying to attitudinize his worship and prayers to others, where as the publican was extremely simple and honest in his worship and prayers to God. The pharisee was more into law, whereas the tax collector in the parable was more about repenting and asking for God’s mercy. In the last verse Jesus gave the moral teaching, that we needn’t to exalt ourselves in front of God, instead get humble. Remove the sense of vanity, ego and superiority from your heart and worship God with a true, honest and a humble heart. Our vanity is the major contributor in driving us away from God.
The parables had a major impact on the people who heard and read them. One of the reasons for its significant and positive impact is the sheer audacity and the honesty with which Jesus spoke them at a time when pharisees were at peak of their powers. People were subjugated by the pharisees and sadducees through the law, which they twisted according to their own wish and will. Jesus came and set people free from the enslavement, he saved them for having a eternal life, he saved them for having a life which had faith in Heavenly Father, he saved them to understand what is pleasing in God’s eye, he saved them to live a life that would be as per the commandments of God and not of any religious leader. Our Lord also knows that vanity only will create a void between Him and Humans, and would only impel humans to disobey God.

Psalm 94:11
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Since, he is the creator so he understands us in the most perfect and appropriate way, and through the parable of pharisee and publican he wants to convey a clear message to humans that don’t get caught in the games of vanity and swankiness and boastfulness. The parables are meant to create an instant impact on the heart and soul of a person. They stir the moral and spiritual aspects of thinking and makes the path in Jesus more clear and helps us to maintain the steadfastness in faith that is required to achieve the ultimate goal.

Self Control

A person who doesn’t have a self-control is like an untamed Beast, who is a trouble not only for itself but also for his counterparts and peers. A person without any control on himself will be a nuisance to his family and society. He won’t have the cognizance as to how to behave, what to speak, and what should be our thought process. A sound mind guided by the Holy Spirit is like a fresh waterfall, which is beneficial not only for land but for people surrounding that water body. A self-controlled man will excel in Godly things, he would not be timid nor would he succumb to any pressure exerted on us by Satan.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Satan brings us all the best worldly things to deceive and beguile us. But a person who is guided by the Holy Spirit will know that his self-control will win his case in front of God and the Holy Spirit will guide him to defend that person against any attack from evil. If anything that keeps our faith intact after prayers and reading scriptures; it is our self-control. Once we have faith in Jesus and read the Bible, it is our self-control that determines how our walk in and with the Lord would be. Wisdom from Jesus is directly connected with our self-discipline. The more we showcase self-discipline in our life, more would be Lord’s wisdom bestowed upon us.

Proverbs 16:32
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
A self-controlled soul is like a battalion on Warfield in the front guarding our soul against the attacks of Satan. If we let our spirit go astray then all our hard work in faith and praying would go in vain. Self Control is the single most influential “make or break” decision in life. Self-denial for Lord is what will ameliorate our life to new heights. Sometimes, we live in a delusion that we are having faith in Jesus and that is the only prerequisite for having an eternal life in him and a life pleasing to his eyes. Think again! What the Bible teaches us is to be in complete self-denial mode and always sticking to self-control principles taught to us by God. Two verses from the Bible will clear the self-control point unambiguously.

Matthew 16:24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
And

1 Peter 2:11
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Jesus clearly said that if we want to follow him, if we want to be termed as his disciples then we have to take up our own cross and follow him. Here, Jesus wants to draw a comparison between one’s self-control and cross. Cross has a physical burden if we carry it on shoulders, similarly, our self-control has a lot of burden on our spirit. We would be denying ourselves with the pleasures of the world, we would abstain ourselves from the fleshly enjoyments; which isn’t an easy decision to make and requires a lot of determination and faith. Also, the sinful desires in our body are in constant war with our soul, and the winner is always being determined by how much restrained are we with our desires. We are being engulfed with vanity, ego, sexual desires, fornication, alcoholic desires, jealousy, covetousness all being Satan’s age old weapons to defeat us and destroy us. These are the weapons he uses to create a gap between God and our soul. However, with faith in Jesus, prayers, scripture reading and Self-control we can easily overcome these obstacles and be victorious. Self-control can also be seen as an act of opposing evil and letting evil know that we are in the team of Jesus and better not try to deceive us. Whenever we are very happy or very sad; that’s is the time when Satan can really hit us with all his force as that’s is our most vulnerable time. However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be happy or sad, it’ all natural to be any state of mind and feeling but we should restrain ourselves from flowing with the emotions and what others tells us do at that particular moment. Instead, we should train our mind, body and soul to have self-control and not letting anything beguile us. Sometimes, we might think that we can’t let go a particular thing because of it’s monetary or social value, however anything that could possible come in between Christ and our soul must be abandoned and should be abstained from.

Philippians 3:7
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
If Adam and Eve, had self control they wouldn’t had been deceived by the serpent. What is interesting to see is how even after knowing and reading their story, we still end up being deceived by the satan. One of the paramount factor in achieving self control is the praying without ceasing and intercession with the Holy Spirit. The crucifixion of the Christ also symbolises the crucifixion of our fleshly desires which instigates us to sin against the God.

Galatians 5:24
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
The best way to practice the art of self control is by indulging ourselves in the scriptures. The more we read the more we get accustomed to the word of God. With a better comprehension of the Bible we are able to achieve the desired level of self control necessary to ameliorate our lives in God’s eyes. Self control is an art which comes through lot of determination and lot of prayers. One of the major aspects of practicing the art is by humbling ourselves in front of the Lord. Accepting, our sins and mistakes, confessing them to Jesus and then asking for it’s forgiveness. Till the time we don’t understand our sins and mistakes we will keep on repeating it, hence defying the very logic of self control.

Titus 2:11-12
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Through Jesus we have attained the knowledge and the route to salvation. It requires us to deny all kinds of worldly pleasures and ungodly ideas. To forgo these desires our heart should practise the art of self effacing and self control. Without restraining ourselves from worldly desire, we simply won’t be able to have the intercession with Jesus in a true manner. Therefore, to have an eternal life and a pleasing life in the eyes of God, one must practice the art of self control.

Scriptures in Life

Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
The Bible is the book of life. The best way to find the solution of problems is to find an answer in the Bible. You will get all the knowledge and wisdom in this book of life; the only condition being you should devote time to read and meditate on the book. If you think that you are giving an hour every day to read the Bible but still you aren’t able to elucidate your problems, then the imperative thing that you are skipping is to meditate on the verses that you reading. Ask Jesus to help you find the meaning of the verses that you reading and help you to connect it with daily life or trouble you go through. You will see a remarkable change in the way things get crystal clear in mind.
The Bible is a user manual provided by the creator himself. As when we bring any new electronic appliance, we get a user manual with it to guide us as to how to use it at optimum capacity; similarly if we use the user manual given by the creator, i.e. the Bible we will be able to live a life at an optimum level. A life that would be pleasing to his eyes, a life that will be full of obedience to Jesus commandments. Reading of scriptures also helps us to enhance our faith in the Lord as it gives an insight knowledge of his mercy, kindness, and love.

Romans 10:7
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The more we hear, read and meditate on the word, the greater the expansion and steadfastness of faith. In the times of adversity and in the times of happiness the word of the God helps us to rejoice in the Lord as it glorifies the Father in happiness and gives us the protection in case of adversity. It gives us a clear insight of our inner personality and our thought process. It nurtures our thought process and makes us mature of the things which earlier either we denied or were incapable of understanding. The Bible guides us of the things that are correct and incorrect, it gives us the power to make a decision to follow the truth and unfollow the false doctrine. What many books, including highly recommended scientific and other doctrine books, couldn’t answer, The Bible answers us in the most unambiguous ways. It is the only book which starts with the creation, then goes on to describe the life and death and eventually ends with the description of the afterlife and a new world. It covers all the facets of life and death, righteousness, and sin, God, and Satan.
The word of God is like a living fountain of water. We need to come to that fountain daily and drink from it to keep our souls alive. The word of the Lord is infallible in any and every sense. It provides us the complete doctrine which can’t be changed.

Proverbs 30:5-6
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Every word, every sentence, every page and every book in the Bible is astounding and it gives us the assimilation of life, death, sin and eternal truth. Not only is the Bible infallible but it is a complete book. Not a word could be added or subtracted for the book of life.

Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
The Bible should be taken as it is, no changes should happen while reading it then only you will get the correct interpretation of the Bible. For implementing the scriptures in practical life, a sound and unadulterated elucidation of the Bible is indispensable. Unless you read you won’t be able to know what is written and unless you don’t know what is written; anyone can fool you with false doctrine. Remember we keep lay our trust and faith on a living God and the things he has written in the user manual for humans has to be taken seriously with utmost respect and importance.
The value of scriptures is not limited to our own eternal life, but it goes beyond the boundaries of eternal life. It helps us to spread the message, the good news, The Gospel. Only a person having sound knowledge of the Bible can spread the gospel because when non-believers ask him of questions, that person should be able to pick up the verses from the Bible and explain them. 

Remember, how Jesus always quoted scriptures to the Pharisees.

Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
This was in reference to Old Testament:-

Deuteronomy 8:3
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Another reference -

Matthew 4:7
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Old Testament reference

Deuteronomy 6:16
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
There are a lot of examples in the Bible, where Jesus quotes Old Testament scriptures. This tells us to have profound knowledge in the Bible. Also, the word of the God is the only absolute authority. Sometimes you might get to hear a verse from the Bible while having a conversation with your friend or maybe on TV or maybe while surfing internet, so write it down. It could be that Lord is speaking to you through that verse. The Bible is the only source of absolute divine authority.

Psalm 119:89
For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
Worldly knowledge through various books is good, but the wisdom bestowed on us through the Bible is superlative. Not only it has life teachings in it, but it contains the truth which when read and meditated upon will unravel the mysteries and bring a whole new world to us which has all the answers to our questions. It will make us understand the purpose of our life. It will give a new meaning and dimension to our life. Our entire life is dependent of scriptures and how we interpret it and implement in our daily routine.

Psalm 119:15-16
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
With the scriptures and prayers, comes the wisdom of God. To know good and bad is plain knowledge but to segregate the two and enact upon the good/righteousness is wisdom we get only through Jesus blessings and reading scriptures.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of the God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of the God penetrates our body and humbles our heart which otherwise is filled with amour propre. It’s our daily hope and propels our faith to new heights. Sometimes when we feel depressed, the Word of God is there to lift us up from slumber and helps to inject a sense of rejuvenation in our body which makes us come out of depression. Every day becomes a blessing when we read the Bible and have an intercession with the Lord. It is by far the only book wherein we could know about our creator and his expectations from us. So, to know about who created, how he created us and why he created us and how he expects us to live, it’s imperative that we study the scriptures which would guide us in every way possible to our ultimate goal of achieving the eternal life with Jesus. Without the knowledge of scriptures our live would be soulless and meaningless; having no direction and no purpose. Scriptures are there from the very beginning, as it is written in the Bible -

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Prayer

What is a Prayer? Is it merely closing our eyes and putting forward all our bucket list in front of God? Or is it about asking for that one wish you desperately want God to fulfill? Or is it about a Father (Heavenly Father) and Son relationship being enhanced through an intercession?

Many of us get confused as to what exactly a prayer is. Since most of us don’t know what prayer is; so of course how to pray stays a mystery. We get entangled between desires of flesh and appetite for the soul. We basically create a war zone in our mind and it starts playing tug of war between spiritual needs and materialistic/fleshly needs. Unfortunately, if we do not know the meaning of “Prayer” in its essential sense; materialistic needs win the war hands down. And we basically get nothing in and out of prayer. Prayer is a kind of device give to mankind by the creator to stay in touch with him 24*7. In fact, for praying there is no time boundation and there is no specific time; pray as and when you feel like getting connected with Jesus. In fact, Jesus has given a brief outline as to how should we pray -

Matthew 6: 6-13
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, a the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

John 14:13
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Now, remember these are the words spoken by Jesus directly to us. Well, in simpler terms he is hobnobbing between us and our Heavenly Father. In these above-mentioned verses Jesus is telling us the method to pray, i.e to whom to address our prayers, in whose name we should ask our prayers, how should we pray and most importantly what should be included in prayers. Look, Jesus tells us to pray in private; it doesn’t mean that you can’t pray in public, of course, you can pray in public but the integral part about praying in private is the “no-nonsense showoff”. Sometimes, people go overboard in showing their praying skills because of the eloquence of speech that God has gifted them. Lord knows our heart even before we start praying, also he knows whether we are swanking in public to get the attention or we actually mean what we pray. If we actually mean what we pray then why not to pray in private where no one will watch and hear us; only interaction we will have is with the Holy Spirit. The concept of praying secretly is to let your heart open to Heavenly Father. Sometimes, when praying with others or in front of people we might not feel all that comfortable in asking for the forgiveness of our sins that we commit, but in private where nobody listens to us apart from God, we will be able to express our heart in a better way. Then Jesus also guides us that we shouldn’t babble as the gentiles do. Even if we repeat a word or sentence again and again the importance of that particular word or sentence would remain the same and most importantly our Heavenly Father knows the difference between our needs and desires. He knows what is best for us. All we need to do is pray and trust him because after all he is our creator and he knows what is important for us. Jesus also tells us as to how to start our invocation; it’s always a humble act to cognize the fact that our creator is a Holy God and his name will always be honored before anything. When we pray, we may feel that our prayers aren’t being answered; the reason behind that is God has a better plan for us which right now we can’t ponder on right now because we are preoccupied with our own ideas. But, our Lord isn’t like that, he knows what is right for us in future and if we allow his will to happen in our life than our life will definitely ameliorate. That’s why Jesus tells us to accept the fact that Heavenly Father’ “Will” is the ultimate wish and let it happen in our life through asking it in prayers. Next, he told us to ask for our daily bread from the Lord. Have we ever wondered as to why we work so hard in our professional life? The simple answer isn’t to acquire materialistic possessions (of course that we acquire in due course of time) but to earn daily bread for ourselves and our family members. The food which we get is a blessing to us given by our Heavenly Father. Imagine the plight of those who aren’t able to satiate their hunger because of lack of food. To show the importance of food, Jesus fed 5000 men. Also once they finished he ordered his disciples to collect the food so that nothing is left over.

John 6:10-12
And Jesus said, MAke the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Lastly, Jesus tells us to pray in his name. This is because Jesus is the only begotten son of Heavenly Father, lead a sinless life on earth and adhered to all the wishes of Heavenly Father. Jesus sinless and selfless life is an example to us as to how we should simply obey the commandments of our Heavenly Father.
Prayer is a time which should be exclusively kept for interaction with the Holy Spirit. Through that interaction, we come to know as to what are the plans designed for our future life by Lord. It is time to introspect our lives and tell Jesus as to what we feel about our life and things around us. Prayer can also be deemed as meditation; where we just think of our savior and put our entire concentration and focus on the Bible. The scripture gives us immense knowledge and understanding of the life. Through prayers, we can remember the right scripture at the right moment in daily life.
Why has Jesus emphasized so much on prayer in the Bible? Why to kick out Satan we need to have a life dedicated to Jesus through faith and prayer? In the Book of Mark (Mark 9:17-29), a little boy was troubled by a Spirit which made him unable to speak. When the father brought his son to Jesus and asked for his mercy, Jesus rebuked the foul spirit and made it come out of that boy’s body. Later when his disciples asked him how couldn’t they rebuked the spirit but Jesus could Lord answered them -

Mark 9:29
And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
So, this answer explains everything to us. We are perfectly capable of extirpating evil spirit through our constant endeavor through prayers to our Lord. Prayers have multitude of powers to make our faith immortal. Prayers transcend our spiritual life into a new sphere which can be experienced only with the supplication of our souls in Jesus. A life without prayer is like a life that goes on without any meaning to it. Prayer adds life and meaning to our dead and corrupted soul. We need life to rejuvenate the dead soul and we need meaning for helping it redeem it of sins.
Sometimes, we take prayer as a Christian ritual which we have to do. The day we start thinking like that is where all the blessings vanish. Because God doesn’t want us to do something out of compulsion. He wants us to have faith on him unconditionally and to ask him for anything in Jesus name in prayer with 100% trust and credence. The Bible also talks about praying constantly in spirit.

Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
The Bible not only tells us to pray constantly for ourselves but it also tells us to pray for our elders, brothers, and sisters because we never know who requires our intercession with the Lord on their behalf. Maybe some of them are really striving hard to win the spiritual battle and with our prayers, they may get just that extra push required to cross the line and win the war against Satan. Also, when we pray without ceasing it opens up our spiritual life and we start getting the meaning of each and every word that is written in the Bible. We often misunderstand and start blaming God for what we haven’t got, some of us even go an extend of ridiculing our Lord, but we need to understand that our prayers should be in accordance with the Bible and righteousness. We just can’t pray anything to Lord and ask him to grant us. We can’t ask in prayers to hurt someone or finish someone, that would be a mere foolishness on our part. Prayers should be free of covetous wishes and jealousy. If someone is being blessed with some materialistic or spiritual gift from Lord then that is between God and them, we have no right to interfere and ask God for an explanation. But our duty is to diligently grow in Lord and ceaselessly praying for his mercy and blessings. Many times we don’t realize the blessing that he already has bestowed upon us. We just need to harness those gifts, talents, blessing given to us by Jesus. We can only do it through constant supplication to Jesus.
Let our prayers be stronger than enemy’s attack, let our prayers be more enduring, let our prayers glorify our heavenly father, let our prayers be a benison for others in their spiritual life.
Our prayers should act as a bridge between our soul and Lord, once that bridge gets built and daily serviced, then our walk in Lord becomes so easy. Prayers give us that inner strength to keep our faith intact in the face of adversity and happiness. It's keeping that equilibrium and doesn’t allow us to go astray in either case.

1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
Always remember to pray continuously. Even if busy, pray in your heart. The day we stop praying that day Satan would deceive us with his wickedness, therefore always stay connected to our savior Jesus.

Love

1 Corinthians 13 4-5 (NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Hitherto, what most of the people think about love, is being shattered by this verse in the Bible. Love is not comforting one’s own feelings. Love is not selfish or lustfully motivated. Love isn’t about doing things in order to get something. Love is about giving selflessly, love is showing compassion, love is about extirpating jealousy and hatred. Love is about lifting the crestfallen through our genteel nature. Love is about ameliorating one’s life in Jesus. And above all Love is about understanding and giving the Love as Jesus gave us. His love was perfect. His love did not have even a single thought of being nefarious. We all have been trying to decode the definition of love and we all are singing the same leitmotif of worldly possessions and objectives till the time we don’t read and decipher the Bible.
Love teaches us everything. It teaches us to be humble, patient, faithful, emotional, etc basically every aspect of a person’s life. Till the time we haven’t tasted Jesus love, we won’t truly understand the meaning and real objective of love. A real love is A Love in Jesus wherein we follow all that he has commanded us to do. Because till the time we don’t truly love Jesus, we won’t be able to follow what he said. Love allows us to have freedom. Freedom of doing righteous things, freedom of disassociating ourselves from sin, freedom of understanding everything correctly and freedom of breathing freely and fearlessly.

1 John 4:18-19
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us.
Most important phase in this verse is to understand “Perfect love” else it could become confusing with -

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
To a person who yet hasn't accepted Jesus, these verses may seem contradictory. However, the truth is both these verses are interrelated. The first verse talks about having no fear in perfect love and second talks about the fear of Lord is the starting point in acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Now, comes the question as to what is perfect love? Perfect Love is understanding Jesus and his commandments and eventually adhering to his commandments. When we fear the Lord, we start a journey with him towards heaven because we understand his power. His capability to destroy as he is the creator of everything, his overwhelming love and mercy for us as he gave his only son to us for the atonement of our sins. And when we accept him graciously for his love and compassion for us, that time all our fear is being thrown out because the definition of true love says that we would adhere and obey everything of the one we love; and keeping the definition in mind our fear abandons us and let us live freely in Lord. Perfect Love in Lord will give you peace and satisfaction, it will give you hope and faith, it will give you the reason to live.
However, because Jesus loves us so much, we should not become like brats. We shouldn’t take his love and mercy for granted as Jesus wants us to work day in and day out for achieving his perfect love by adhering to his commandments and hating evil.

Romans 12:9
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
The Bible clearly tells us to hate what is evil. Unless and until we hate evil how would we go away from it? We have to be closer to Jesus every day to savor his love. The reward for the sincerity of perfect love that we show in Jesus is the eternal life that we would get with him. Love is like a medicine which Lord has given to humans. Our soul which has been corrupted by jealousy, vanity, anger, depression, lust, covetousness, etc can only be healed through loving each other in Jesus. Our demeanor should be self-effacing. With love in Jesus and loving people around us, we not only win hearts but also win the ultimate battle with Satan. And that is why Jesus gave his second commandment in New Testament -

Mark 12:31
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
With this Jesus wants to convey us that we should love our “neighbor”; not literally neighbor (of course we have to love our immediate neighbor as well) only but entire human race as such. When we love our family members, friends, colleagues, known to people and also a stranger, Life becomes completely different. Our perspective of life changes for better. Our perception towards life becomes positive instead of becoming negative. We start valuing people which, is worthwhile a change in itself inculcated in our thought process only through the perfect love of Jesus. Hatred only brings anguish in our heart. Accepting that pain because of hatred is one of the worst perils which we could tolerate knowing the solution beforehand. Love is not always easy as it seems and isn’t convenient either; however, Love is always quintessentially right. Since Love is inspired by Lord so it definitely brings out the best in us. It transpires the kindness and mercy deep routed in us which got overshadowed due to corruption and self-centrism.
We all have been blessed with inherent love from Lord; all we need to do is to sharpen in with regular prayers to Jesus and a thorough study of God’s word. The scriptures help us to break our discourteous heart into a humble and docile heart. It teaches us the importance of Love for God and humans. It not only teaches us the importance but also shows us practically as to how Love can win souls for Jesus and also for humanity.

Galatians 6:9
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Whether we going through a bad patch or good times never cease to love. Keep on loving Jesus and all the people around us with unmalicious and non-expectant heart. Eventually, our love will bring us closer to Jesus and help us to lead a life which would be pleasing in Lord’s eye. Never love for hatred as the Satan did by beguiling Eve as a serpent to sin against God. Always keep the parameters of love keeping Jesus as the benchmark. Don’t ask or expect love which has benefits involved. The Bible warns us against that kind of love which is corrupted by Satan.

2 Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.
Satan has been referred to as the god of this world and the Bible warns against his corrupted love. The Gospel of Jesus is the true love. Love ushered to us by Jesus is the true and pure love.
If Jesus has blessed us with materialistic possessions and if we are capable of helping a poor who need it then it becomes our duty and responsibility to help him. Because that is the pure and true love which Jesus taught us.

1 John 3:17
But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
If we are proficient enough to help a person and deliberately not helping him, the Bible clearly tells us that how can the love of the God reside in him. That person who isn’t helping the needy is being governed not by love of Jesus but by Satan; who has corrupted his mind to an extend where his frugality has surpassed all levels of greediness. A helpful person is being valued over a miser person. Our real wealth is stored in heaven and not on earth. That wealth which is stored in heaven is perennial but the wealth stored and earned on earth is perishable. And the currency used in heaven is Love and Faith. If we promulgate love we will receive love not only here but also in heaven.

Matthews 6:19-20
“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.
Jesus love for humans was so abundant that he forgot the pain that he went through; commonly known as “The Passion of Jesus Christ”. His body was being tormented but still, his love for humans never faded. And that’s why when he was on cross he prayed to Heavenly Father to forgive the mankind.

Luke 23:34
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots.
Jesus love is pure, perfect and unconditional for mankind. His love is an example for us to follow. His love is greater than what we can ever imagine. However, to experience and understand his love we must surrender our heart, mind, and soul to him because until then the vanity, ego, and pride inside us won’t allow us to taste his love.
With love comes the respect and honor. The Bible also tells us to honor each other, in fact through the love of Jesus we should respect and give him honor beyond one’s expectations.

Romans 12:10
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;
So, remember to humble your heart to show our love and affection, love each other immensely as brothers and sisters in Jesus and remember to forgive each other so that we can experience the true Love of Jesus.