Author: Jane Joseph

‘So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.’ Hebrews 3:19

It’s tragic to see how the Israelites failed to truly trust and believe in God in spite of experiencing His love and faithfulness and being witnesses to so many signs and wonders that He performed among them.

You would think that they did not enter God’s rest because of disobedience but as seen in v18, disobedience was an outgrowth of the unbelief. Disobedience was sin exhibited at the surface level (behavioural sin) whereas the root cause of that (motivational sin) was really unbelief.

In the midst of adversity instead of trusting God, the Israelites became hard and unbelieving and did not trust God’s goodness – to lead and protect and provide and satisfy, just like He always did.

Though it’s really easy to point a finger at the Israelites’ stubbornness and shake my head in disgust, the Holy Spirit gently reminded me of my own sin.

There are instances that I too don’t truly believe that Christ’s work is sufficient for me. When I struggle with something and feel like a failure, it is because I don’t really believe what He has said about me and the promises He has given me in His word. 

When things don’t go the way I planned or if I’m frustrated that I messed up, it’s because I don’t really believe that God is good at ‘all’ times, that He is faithful and will work out everything for my good in His time. 

Instead, I get deceived and fall for the lies and accusations that the enemy feeds into my head. The result? Depression, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, anger, discouragement and so on. 

“A life of true living is a life of faith in Jesus, a life of believing in Jesus in the everyday stuff of life.” – Jeff Vanderstelt

I need to believe and speak the truths of the gospel – What is true of Jesus, of what He accomplished through His life, death and resurrection and what is true of me as I put my faith in Him, in the struggles I face and the everyday stuff of life.

But I do need help to battle my unbelief. I’m so grateful that I find it in the believers around me who pray for me, exhort me and strengthen me in my faith. 

When our belief centres on the superiority of Jesus Christ and His atoning work for me as a faithful High Priest, as mentioned in Hebrews 2:17, we can enter God’s rest.

May we hold fast to our confidence and boast of our hope in Jesus Christ firm to the end!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last week, as church we prayed through the Lords prayer step by step from Matthew 6. Here’s how we were able break down each verse and then pray through it.

‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.’

Glorify our God, meditating on His greatness.

• Our God who reigns in infinite power and wisdom, who exists from all eternity, the great, wonderful and righteous king is ‘our Father!’
• He is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (all present), faithful, merciful, the beginning and end of every person that will ever live.
• Our God is holy, and He is jealous for our undivided affection.
• He is high, and also dwells with the lowly. He is a king, and he is a father. He is far above us, and yet ready to come to us.
• Pray that God would make his name supremely known and valuable in the minds and hearts of people.
• Pray that Gods name would be ‘Hallowed’ i.e His name would be feared in each of our lives, that we would not fear man but always revere Him.
• Pray that our heavenly Father would cause our hearts to trust, obey, fear and glorify Him alone.

‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ 

• Gods kingdom to be established here on earth, gathering the redeemed from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
• The earth to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).
• God our Father to bring His kingdom in a greater measure today, beginning in our own hearts and pouring out to our home, community, city, nation, and to the ends of the earth.
• May the rule of Christ be extended into every area of our lives. May we seek to live under the kingly protection and provision and guidance of God.
• As we walk with God, may He work on our hearts, our affections, our desires to know what is His good and perfect will.
• May the Lord cause us to obey His will. Help us to do His will with fervency and undivided devotion. Let Him mold us and make us respond to the needs of the world and be part of bringing Heaven to earth.

‘Give us this day our daily bread’

• We ask our Heavenly Father for bread that teaches us honesty. We do not ask for the bread out of other people’s mouths, nor the bread of deceit (Pr 20:17), nor the bread of idleness (Pr 31:27) but the bread honestly gained. We ask for our ‘daily bread’ which teaches us not to worry about tomorrow but constantly to depend upon the divine Providence of God.
• We come to God in a spirit of humble dependence, asking Him to provide what we need and to sustain us that we might accomplish what He has called us to do, trusting that He will provide.
• We pray that God would give us ‘this day’ which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed.
• May our natural desires be subject to spiritual desires; fruit-bearing desires, gospel-spreading, God-centered desires.
• As we delight in the Lord, in hallowing His name, seeking His kingdom and doing His will, we’ll pray that all our natural desires will be transformed into God-related desires.

‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’

• Our debt includes secret sins as well as public ones, deliberate sins as well as sins committed in ignorance. And when all our sins are added together, they place us in God’s eternal debt.
• We come to God as sinners in need to be forgiven everyday. We know we don’t deserve it, we ask for mercy. We ask God to draw us into the freedom of His love, the love He gave when His Son died in our place.
• We thank God because He is our loving Father who offers full and free forgiveness.
• May the Lord cause us to forgive from the heart which is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. We are a new creation and the mark of our newness is not yet perfection but a persistent inclination to forgive.
• May we continue to forgive because Christ through His grace, mercy and compassion has forgiven us.

‘Lead is not into temptation but deliver us from evil’

• As we face endless choices between belief and unbelief, obedience and disobedience, we pray that God would hold us back from stepping into temptations.
• We pray for Gods grace to help us stand strong when we face temptations or find ourselves in situations where our faith is tried and tested. We trust in the Lord (not ourselves) for deliverance; to keep us back from the entanglements of over powering temptations, to guard us from the enemy and all his works, to grant us to walk in holiness before Him all our days.
• Let’s pray that we remain watchful and discerning, saturated with the word of God, gripped with the goal set ahead of us and committed in doing Gods will thereby not yielding to the enemy’s enticements.
• “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Happy Independence Day

We thank God for this nation and for what He is doing to bring the hope and love of Jesus to people all across the country. We pray for our country in these specific ways –

• Where there is bondage, we pray for liberty for the captives and release for those held in slavery. (Isaiah 61:1)
• Where there is oppression, we pray that God would work righteousness and justice. (Psalm 103:6)
• Where there is barren and unproductive land, let there be abundance and overflow to the ground itself, causing it to bud and flourish. (Psalm 65:9-13)
• Where the dominion of darkness reigns, we ask that God would bring people into the Kingdom of His beloved Son in whom they have redemption, and the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13)
• Where the thief has come to steal, kill and destroy, may the Lord give life in abundance to the people of India. (John 10:10)
• Where there have been many paths that claim to lead to God, we pray that men, women and children would come to the One who is The Way, The Truth and The Life. (John 14:6)

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Why would God the Father go through such painful extreme of redeeming us back to Himself by sending to us His one and only son, Jesus Christ to bear the punishment that we deserved by going through the most horrific death that no one could or ever will undergo for us?

It was only to prove His unconditional, undying love for every man and every woman and for us to once again enjoy an intimate fellowship with our Maker.

[bctt tweet=”Seeking God with all our Heart. #SeekingGod #SeekingChrist” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

But ‘Seeking God‘ is a term we hear and can relate to a lot so much so that it can turn out to be a monotonous routine if we’re not careful. At least that is what I can tell about myself yet the times I have felt Gods presence ever so close to me is during the dark moments when I have sought the Lord with all my heart.

Jeremiah 29:13,14 says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity”.

So, where do we find God?

It’s in His Word, in our sorrows, our joys, our turmoils, our triumphs, in our fears, our doubts, His working in other people’s lives and so on.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’.

God wants us to know not just about Him but to know Him personally. A relationship that involves knowledge or intellect but no heart is not a relationship at all. His presence is always with us and surrounds us but it takes an active role on our part of seeking Him. It’s not our own efforts but the Lord who enables us to go after Him.

Does this come easily?

Well, not really because in this journey called ‘life’ that we all go through, there are many barriers that we need to overcome. For some these barriers are our own self like our selfish desires, our own agendas, our own thoughts, being complacent, lethargic, being too focused on our circumstances or situations, all about ‘us’ and other distractions that draw us away from our walk with God.

Since Gods word says that ‘the heart is deceitful above all things‘, we need to keep coming back to the cross, back to God asking Him to empty ourselves of every pride, selfishness and other sins that captivate our hearts.

Jesus says in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.

If we seek God, we will find Him and when His Truth dwells in our hearts it means Christ dwelling richly in our hearts.

Here are some practical ways we can seek the Lord:

• Talking honestly with God as you would with a best friend which is praying, reading, studying and meditating on His word, reading good Christian literature and other resources
• Journalising new insights and thoughts that God lays on your heart.
• Listening to encouraging and uplifting gospel songs as well as sermons, discussions, talks and even asking questions to people who follow Jesus.

These are some of the ways we can fill our hearts and minds with the things of God and pursue Him.