A Teacher's masterpiece

Every manufacturer begins his production after he has a clear picture of the specifications of his end product. Textile manufacturer weaves the best fabric, an automobile manufacturer engineers a comfortable and economic ride, a shoe manufacturer designs comfortable and fashionable footwear. As teachers do we have a vision of who our products turn out to be? Do we have a clear picture of the holistic achievement of the students who pass out of our hands or a picture of only their academic progress?

God has created us teachers with multifaceted skills to mould children to becoming excellent adults. To excel in their adulthood, one needs to be good individuals, family oriented , productive professionals and an asset to the society.  The aroma one spreads should smell sweet with a whole lot of optimism. The strength of the building depends on the foundation. Similarly, we are what we are, based on our foundations laid in our school and family during our formative years. Our part as teachers plays a vital role here. There are several aspects that we have to shape in the students. Let us bring it all under the umbrella of 3 Ps.  

We need to develop the personality of the students. Personality is attributed by both their appearance and behavior. The way one carries himself shows their personality. Without the person saying a word, the personality of that person can make an impression. The visible aspect of their character is their behavior, values and attitude.  Personality can be external too. A student, who adorns a neatly pressed uniform, with a tidy hairdo and polished shoes, as opposed to one who is shabbily dressed in a pair of dusty shoes with a sloppy walk, has a good personality. The attitude of the person towards others, self confidence, integrity, being optimistic, good learner, pleasant blody language, passionate towards life are all character traits that make one a respectable personality.  Let’s strive to make the students beautiful inside and outside. This will take them sky high.

We need to encourage the students to have principles to follow in life. They have to hold on to their principles, no matter what. There are many folks who don’t have any principles in life. They are just tossed about by circumstances and situations. This does not help their growth. From a child’s level ,a few principles they can follow are to be punctual, to be trustworthy, to be sincerely.

People skills of the students need to be tuned. Obtaining knowledge can be done at home. The information on the virtual world wide web is up-to-date by the second.  In the present scenario, teaching the students social skills is the need of the hour. Children need to co-exist with different kinds of people. A diverse set of minds are present in a class, just as it will be in the real world. Students should be exposed to life skills such as empathy, managing emotions, courteousness, to respect and the like.

Let us take a moment and think of how to instill these in our students. Im sure all teachers will agree that our students imitate us to the T. They reflect our personality, our principles and our people skills. Are we a worthwhile mirror for them? Let’s introspect and see. If there are areas where we can to change in order to be a perfect mirror, lets change ourselves. If the image is good, the reflection will surely be good. Remember our students are our reflection.

Poem on 'I am'

I am God's Child, created in His likeness
I wonder how He created me, oh so unique
I hear His sigh of pride at His creation
I see His work is not yet done
I want to reflect Him

I am God's child, created in His likeness
I pretend to be prefect at times
I feel unworthy to be called His child
I touch His heart with my prayers
I worry if God will say 'Well done ,faithful servant'
I cry  'Oh Lord, help me'

I am God's Child, created in His likeness
I understand I need His grace and favour
I say ' I need God every moment
I dream, I walk with Him to work and play
I try to share His love come what may
I hope God says ' Well done Faithful servant'
I am God's child, created in His likeness

Blessings of 2007

The year 2007 would be etched in our memory for the way God lead us & showed us that He is good always - We could see His guidance, healing power and providence in each of our lives. Kingsley and I were not happy in our workplaces & we looked to God to turn things around for us. We held on to His promises & started to pray. We knew it was a matter of time before he would lead us through green pastures.

He is a God who directs our path, that's what His word says. When Kingsley resigned his job in Bahrain, he did not have a job in hand. He knew for sure that God would not let him down. Yes ! you may think we were foolish to leave a job without another one in hand. In fact, we said the same thing when one of our close friends gave up a very good position in their workplace because they were not feeling at peace with it. I think God speaks in a very personal way to people by the situations they go through. That is how He spoke to both of us. We were filled with so much peace when Kingsley gave His resignation. We continued to pray for God to open a way for us. We also wanted 2 months break before we settle in a new place. We desired 2 places specifically, and God opened a door in Pondicherry, one of the places we desired and that too after exactly 2 months. Well, all we could say was "God's timings are so perfect" & we could only thank Him for the way He has lead us . God not only directs our paths but also gives what our heart desires and that's what His Word confirms. God also confirmed to us that He is our provider. He gave Kingsley a major break in his job at a very good firm .He is certainly enjoying his work.

God is a miracle working God .As the psalmist said "Though I may walk in the shadow of death,". That is what happened to me a few months back when I underwent a laparoscopy in my fallopian tubes. The doctors said that they found an old ectopic pregnancy in my right tube. The surgeon claimed it was a miracle since it could have been fatal or could have damaged the tube permanently but for the protecting hands of the Lord. God helped me to see the miracle amidst the miscarriage. Only after a few weeks of my scopy,i realised it was actually an abortion & I had lost a baby. But amidst all this, God gave the grace to see that He used me as a vessel to show forth His Glory.

We thank God for all His blessings through out this past year. And now we know that even though we go through hard times, He is still in control of our lives & the things that impact our lives. We are sure that, when the year 2008 comes to a close, we would have plenty more to tell of His Goodness.

Lessons from the book of Malachi.

God was not pleased with the Israelites during the time of the Prophet Malachi. They were found wanting with their doubts, defiled sacrifices, their devious priests, and their disloyal Husbands. We can draw lessons from what they missed out on as the children of God.

Doubting Israelites.
Our God is a God who loves us unconditionally. He is faithful in showing His love to His Children. He loves us but hates the sins that we do so often. He hates it when we disobey him, doubt his love, dishonor Him, lead others to sin and do not obey His commands. That is what the Israelites did repeatedly. God’s love towards them did not change. He promised his mercy to those who fear and obey Him. But the Israelites began doubting God’s love, just like we do so often.

We fall back in our walk with the Lord and feel distant from him and begin to doubt if God really loves us. If we don’t try to bridge the gap by confessing our sins the gap widens. We blame God assuming that He is the one who is going away from us. We are responsible for the distance. The people of Israel did the same they doubted the love of God (Malachi 1:2). They came to God when they were in danger and needed His help and the other times they made idols for them to worship. They chose to love and worship idols. But our God who is the only God is faithful; he still loves us and waits for us to come back to Him.

Defiled sacrifices.
In the Old Testament times, sacrifices were for worship and for forgiveness of sins. In Leviticus we read about many kinds of sacrifices- peace offering, grain offering, sin offering and many more. An animal’s life had to be sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. Each time a man sinned he had to sacrifice an animal for his sins to be forgiven. In those days sacrifice was a ceremony. The animal had to be ritually clean. It should not have any physical defects. That was a major criterion in choosing the animal to be sacrificed. It shows the importance, sincerity, whole-heartedness with which one is giving in sacrificing it. But the people of Israel were very negligent about it. They gave sacrifices for the sake of it. The animals they sacrificed were defiled. It shows they didn’t give the reverence the Lord deserves. You may say we don’t have to sacrifice animals. Yes! We don’t. We don’t have to sacrifice animals for the atonement of our sins. But we need to claim that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and heals us of all disease. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. He died on the cross for our sins. He is the ultimate sacrifice – The Lamb of God, who knew no sin. Our sacrifices to Him are our sacrifice of praise, sacrifice of our life and sacrifice of all that we have. There are times we sing songs of praise because it has a lovely tune. The song may be a wonderful love song to the Lord but if we don’t mean what we sing, it is just a song. This kind of sacrifice is unworthy in the sight of God. We dishonour the name of the Lord if we bring sacrifices without reverence (Malachi 1:12). Our offering of praise, offering of worship, offering of tithes, and offering of our lives should be a sweet aroma to God (Philippians 4:18).

Devious priests.
The priests held a very important position in the temple of God . They were to perform the ceremonies, take care of the temple, and they were messengers from the Lord Almighty (Malachi 2:7). People looked up to the priests as examples and tell the people what God’s will is for them. But the priests in the time of Malachi lead the people in the wrong path. They were conformed to the world instead being transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).They wanted to please the people around them and did not have a relationship with God, so they did not know the will of God. They caused the people to stumble. Here is a lesson for us, if the shepherd is going the wrong way the sheep will also follow. It is very important for pastors, leaders and elders in the church to be good examples to their flock- the people.

Disloyal Husbands.
Husbands should be faithful to their wives. The Lord does not pay attention to offerings offered by an unfaithful husband. Man should love his wife and his wife only. Having an extra-marital relationship is sexual immorality and is a sin. Paul urges the people of Corinth to stay away from sexual immorality. Nowadays divorce has become so common. Malachi 2:16 says that God hates divorce. We as His children need to live a life that is pleasing to him and flee from all that is sinful. Abuse is breaking families now as it did in the past. A Husband – Wife relationship will be at its best when Christ is kept as the focal point. Eph 5:33 says “Every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband”. If the husband really loves his wife, he will not be unfaithful to her.

Do Tithe.
Everything we have comes from the Lord. We should give a tenth of all that He gives us back to Him. By giving our tithes to the Lord we give Him the reverence (Deuteronomy 14:23). Abraham gave a tenth of everything to the Lord (Genesis 14:20). We know how much he was blessed and about his prosperity. The Lord says He will open the flood gates of Heaven and bless us if we give our tithes to Him. If we don’t we are robbing Him of what is due to Him. That is what the Israelites did. They did not offer tithes and they did not have a feeling of guilt. They were happy just the way they were, trying to justify their act.

Deliverance for the righteous.
The day of the Lord will come when the Lord will be the judge, the refiner. He will test everyone’s life like a blacksmith and deliver the righteous only. The righteous people are those who fear Him, obey His commands and who are washed by the blood of Christ. He has promised Hope and deliverance for the Righteous. He is a compassionate God. Both the Righteous and the wicked will ne tried and judged on the day of judgment. We are all acountable for our deeds. Our God will be just in judging us . But remember there is hope for the Godly.
To conclude, do we doubt God’s love for us? Are our offerings pure and holy? And are we faithful to our spouse? Do we tithe? Let us analyse ourselves and see if we are guilty of any of these shortcomings. Commit to the Lord once again and set things right before offering Him the praise and worship He deserves. Only then it will be a sweet aroma for Him. Remember there is deliverance and Hope for the righteous.

Character Study on Isaac

Isaac was predominantly spoken of in the Bible in Gen 17-35.
Abraham had 2 sons who were talked about in the Bible- Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was abandoned but Isaac was the child of the promise. Isaac holds an important place in the lineage of Jesus because Jesus was born through the lineage of Isaac.

The name Isaac means ‘Laughter’. Isaac brought laughter before and after his birth. But both the times Sarah laughed with two different temperaments. God promised Isaac to Abraham and Sarah when Abraham was 100yrs old (Gen 21:5) and Sarah was 90. So Sarah ‘laughed’ with doubt (Genesis 18:12). When God’s promise was fulfilled she laughed with joy (Gen 21:6). Through Isaac’s miraculous birth, God’s eternal purpose for the blessing of the world was fulfilled (Gen 22:18). So Isaac was a special child. We are going to look into Isaac’s life as an individual, as a husband and as a father.

Isaac as an individual:
He was an ordinary man with no great gifts or talents. All he could boast was of his father’s riches. His father Abraham was very wealthy during that time. Isaac was the only heir to his father’s wealth. Other than that he dint have any specialty as an individual. Abraham was the Father of faith and father of nations, and Jacob Isaac’s son- wrestled with God but there isn’t anything significant about Isaac.
Bible scholars say Isaac was in his twenties when God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. In that age one usually doesn’t follow his or her father. But Isaac was very obedient, and trusted what his father was doing. When Abraham said God will provide the sacrifice, Isaac did not ask any more questions, he just followed.
Isaac had Godly parents. He had respect for his parents and elders. His dad would have been his role model. He accepted the wife his dad had arranged for him with the help of his servant (Gen 24).He did not marry any heathen women. As it says in 2Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? It says so clearly that we as believers we should not marry unbelievers. Isaac did the right thing by marrying Rebecca a girl from his own tribe.
He had a relationship with God (Gen 24:63). He went separately and prayed to God when Eleazar went to look for a bride. How many of us spend quality time with God. We see that Isaac prayed for his bride-to-be. When Eleazar went looking for a bride, Isaac was praying to God.
He was good in his trade, which is agriculture (Gen 26:12-14).He reaped a 100 fold (10 000%). The Lord blessed him so much that even his enemies were envious of him. The philistines testified that they could see that the true God was with Isaac. What a testimony!
He was a very persistent young man (Gen 26: 17-22). He kept on opening wells even when the Gerar herdsmen were quarreling with Isaac’s herdsmen. God had promised Isaac that he will be blessed and that he will flourish in Gerar. So he held on to the promise and overcame all the herdsmen who tried to block his blessing by either closing the wells or chasing Isaac from that place. Isaac pressed on. So many times we give up easily. When one hurdle comes we lose heart and start thinking negative.

Isaac as a husband:
Isaac stepped into his wedlock at the age of 40 (Gen 25:20).
He loved Rebecca (Gen 24:67) in the early stages of their marriage. When Rebecca did not conceive for 20 years after marriage, he prayed for her. Isaac’s prayer was answered Gen 25:21). We learn the power of the husband’s prayer for the wife.
Isaac and Rebecca went to Gerar when there was a famine in Ur. Isaac lied to the philistine men that Rebecca was his sister. He lied to protect himself. He did not think of ways to protect his wife. He was afraid that he be killed if he said she was his wife, in want of her. He was a selfish man and was afraid of losing his life (Gen 26: 1-10). He did not have the courage to face it. Do we do what Isaac did? Do we run away from crisis or we caste our burdens on the Lord and trust Him to take care?
In the later part of their marriage we see there was no love between Rebecca and Isaac. The initial love for each other did not last till the end.

Isaac as a father:
Isaac did not do very well as a father. We don’t learn much from his parenthood. He was biased. He favored Esau. Rebecca loved Jacob. He did not instill the same character on his children as his father had instilled in him. We see that Esau ended up marrying Hittite women (Gen 26:34, 35).

On the whole Isaac’s life was disappointing characterized by slow degeneration rather than steady growth. He was sacrificial later on he became selfish. Let us examine our self and see if our relation with God is going a step forward or in the same spot or is it sliding backward? Is our life touching more people by the day or is not touching anyone at all?

Wait on the Lord

Many a time we want everything to be instant. Everything is fast in this world. Starting from fast-food to instant-money is fast and now. With our God it may not be fast. He wants us to wait on him with an expectation that He will answer us, act on our behalf and help us. His answer may be yes, no or later. But whatever be the answer it is the best for you.

Wait on the Lord to act. Saul was chasing David with an intention of killing him. David says “I will wait on the Lord”. In Psalm 37:7 David says “I will wait on the Lord to act”. David could have very well arranged for someone to kill Saul or he could have taken any other action against Saul and his soldiers but he left it for the Lord to act on his behalf. We may have ‘enemies’ in our lives. Maybe someone at our workplace is always talking against us, maybe they are blocking your promotion, maybe they are testifying falsely against you, or maybe a classmate is pointing a finger at you or maybe your spouse does not care about you. What do we do? Do we take revenge against then or do we wait on the Lord? Our God will give us the courage we need to face our enemies Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Let us wait on the Lord to take vengeance. Vengeance is the Lord’s. Joseph waited many years before he became a ruler .God had showed him visions of him ruling over his brothers but it took lots of trials before the visions came true but He waited for the Lord to act. He was living a life true to the Lord. He was a king for more years than he was a slave. See the blessings he received because he waited on the Lord to act.

Wait on the Lord to answer our questions: Whether one is 9 or 90, everyone has questions. In this age we see war, blood, killing, violence, lawlessness and so many kinds of evil in this world. And we have questions as to why all this should happen and if God is not watching. It was no different with Habakkuk. He also questioned God about all the violence and the evil people were doing during His time. And we see that he waited on the Lord for an answer (Habakkuk 2:1). The Lord did show him visions of what He will do to the wicked people. God will reveal His secrets to those who wait on Him. Our God is a God of the past, present and future. He is omniscient. Let’s go to Him with our questions and wait for an answer with expectation.

Wait on the Lord for help. We need God’s help all the time. He is our helper in times of need. Here in Psalm 40:1-4, David is waiting on the Lord for help. God heard his cry. As we read through the verses, we see that David receives four benefits from the Lord, because he waited on the Lord.
A. The Lord pulled him out of the pit.
B. He set him on a rock.
C. He made him secure.
D. And taught him to sing a new song.
When we wait on the Lord He is more that willing to give us much more than we ask for. Waiting on Him does not mean doing what we want to do and just see if the Lord will come to our rescue, but it is to wait completely on Him only. Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His word I put my trust.” When the Lord gives us a promise, wait for it to happen. Trust him to make it happen in your life. David was ordained as king at the age of 16 but became the king only at 30. He waited for God’s promise to be fulfilled in His life.

Wait for his second coming. As it is said in the word, we are here in this world for a very short time. Our ultimate home as children of God is in heaven. We have to wait for that day, when God will reveal His children. And on that day there is salvation for all who waited for His return. (Hebrews 9:28) Are we afraid of His second coming or are we eagerly waiting for it? If we are afraid we need to check ourselves.

What happens when you wait on the Lord?
Those who wait on the Lord –their strength is renewed (Isaiah 40:31), they are called blessed (Isaiah 30:18), and they will inherit their promised land (Psalm 37:34).

Commands apart from the Ten Commandments

So often we focus only on the commandments given to Moses we overlook the other commandments God gives us across the Bible to different other people. The devil deceives us saying “It doesn’t say commandment so you don’t have to obey it”. But when we don’t have a choice but to obey it, it becomes a command. As we go through a few of them, let us live up to it.

Do not judge others. In Mathew we read that God will judge us with the same measure with which we judged others. So often we pass judgment on others so easily. In Romans 2:1-4, Paul tells us that we are no better than the other person. We do the same sins. But it becomes more prominent when someone else does it and we easily condemn them. When God can forgive and accept us though we have sinned beyond measure, why can’t we forgive and accept our fellow beings and strive to have the character of God. God taught me this lesson recently. I always used to drive my dad’s car. When I drove I never used to allow anyone cross the road, I would just honk my way through, and get angry of anyone tried to even cross the road. I used to feel that I was on the upper hand-driving a car- while others were walking. I was getting used to this kind of life. Then came the day when my husband and I moved to another country and we did not have a car then. We had to walk most of the time. Though most of the cars stopped for pedestrians there were a few which did not .There were cars which used to zoom past without allowing us to cross the road, and I used to think ‘these people are driving a car and we are walking and they don’t have the courtesy to wait for us to cross and they are such rash drivers’. God reminded the many times I zoomed when I used to drive. Only then I realized how pedestrians feel. This is what we do so many times. This may not sound spiritual but small incidences like this teach us life’s lesson.

Do not worry. Jesus has said in very plain words in Phi 4:6 “Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart.” Worrying causes many diseases. So why worry when God wants to give you anything you ask Him in His name? Though we can say that God is the one who has brought us this far, we worry about small things. I have heard people say “what will happen if my car fails?” Isn’t it easier to think that nothing will happen to my car, than think something is going to go wrong with it? Many people live in the ‘what if’ world. Sometimes ‘Worry, worry, worry’ is all we can do. As the song goes “why worry when you can pray”, our only solution to problems, needs and questions is prayer. Nahum 1:7 says “The LORD is good; he protects his people in times of trouble; he takes care of those who turn to him”. We worry if God is going to protect us. We just need to turn to him for his protection.

Do not stay angry all day. Paul tells in Ephesians 4:26, 27 “Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the Devil". Paul means to tell us to be angry for the right things but we should not sin with our anger. We curse, use abusive words, hold bitterness and do not forgive in our anger. Some of us don’t speak to our spouse or children or friends for days together because of our anger. Paul urges us to solve our conflicts before we go to bed. Our anger, sorrow should be over in the night for a brand new day, new morning, and new mercies.

Be Holy. God said in 1 Peter 1:16 "Be holy because I am holy". We need to lead a holy life. No one is perfect. Jesus came for sinners. If we say we are perfect we say we don’t want him. But ultimately we need God. He is the reason for our existence. Paul very clearly tells in his letter to the Church of Galatia (chapter 5), about the qualities we should not have to inherit the kingdom of God. Even if we have one of such character we are not qualified to be in His kingdom because it makes us unholy. We may not commit murder, we may not commit adultery, but we commit sins which we feel is too small to be counted. Sin has no place in the sight of God. Sin is sin. There is no “big sin” or “small sin”. So often we take it for granted saying that it is human nature. Sometimes we say ‘it is genetic, we can’t change’. Remember, God is our strength. He will give us the grace to change. We have to surrender to him and tell Him “God I can not do it on my own, you need to help me, you need to take away my negative thinking, my rage, hatred, selfishness and replace it with love, kindness, self-less-ness, patience, peace, joy and goodness” .

Forgive. Un-forgiveness hinders our prayer life (Mark 11:25). We need to forgive anyone who has wronged us, before we come to pray. Mat 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done”. We are sinners too. Don’t we want God to forgive us our sins? We say the Lord’s Prayer from memory and don’t mean what we pray. We say” Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”. But do we forgive those who sin against us? Mathew 18:23-35 talks about the king forgiving the slave but the slave did not forgive his debtor. So the king takes away the slave’s blessing and puts him in prison. God will do the same to us if we don’t forgive like how He forgave us. We will lose our blessings. We need to forgive from the bottom of our hearts. If we hold to un-forgiveness, are we at peace? The devil has an upper hand when we are tormented by not forgiving (2Corinthians 2:10, 11). We are making the devil happy by not forgiving. Do we want to do that? Jesus says we need to forgive seventy times seven. (Mathew 18:21).Now don’t calculate that. It just means that we should forgive always without a count.

Love. God showed us his love giving us His only son to die for us. When the love of God flows through us, forgiveness, self-denial, care, kindness, patience and acceptance of fellow-men follows. Love your neighbors, your enemies, and your wife. Love the way God loved us. Above all, love God.