Random Thoughts- 1

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 17

It's good that trees don't have ears or eyes, because this morning I saw a gardener pruning a tree with an electric saw. I was walking to work when I saw this tree among many similar ornamental trees on the sidewalk being pruned by an uniformed guy. Imagine the tree seeing this guy walking upto it and switching on the electric saw. Imagine it hearing the motor running. That would have been terrible. And being rooted it cannot possibly run away too. Totally helpless.

And so terrible this pruning. The tree would have lamented, "All those good leaves that I just put out.....all gone. Terrible, terrible...
And then the guy walks away as if nothing happened. No one else around seems to be bothered either that the tree suffered such humiliation. A few see it standing now, well dressed, so as to say; perfect as the one who planted it would have desired.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (John 15:1, 2)

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 18

I saw a young sparrow half jump, half fly from a tree this morning. It looked bewildered, to say the least, on landing on the ground. Could that have been a leap of faith or a flight of faith. Either way, it seemed to be thoroughly confused on landing. The legs seemed to give way on landing and it didn't seem to know what to do next. I saw the mother (or was it) soon landing next to it and seem to chirp away at a frantic pace. The young one still looked dazed and didn't seem to budge from it's place. The parent took off twice and landed by it's side again, perhaps showing it the art of flying. Hop, hop...was all the baby could and then stop.

Perhaps the mother was having unrealistic expectations from the young one like we do sometimes with our children. Children are born with diverse God-given talents. Some may be good at studies, others at games, others at music and several other things. I have seen many children of unbelievers to be brilliant in studies while children of believers doing average. Some parents then chide their children, "If they (unbellievers) are getting such good marks, why can't you who are praying?"
Some parents pressurize their children to perform better to such an extent that they eventually steal the joys in their lives. Of course the argument is, "I am only doing it for his/her good." Okay, at what cost??

It would be better if believer parents look at their children's lives with eternity in perspective, encouraging children to use their God given talents to the maximum, helping them flourish and at the same time being careful not to steal away the joy and peace in their lives.

 

[abigya]

Brother Jeremiah, God bless you for your Random Thoughts.

Just want to let you know i am enjoying reading them.

In Christ

abigya

 

[jeremiah7]

Brother Jeremiah, God bless you for your Random Thoughts.

Just want to let you know i am enjoying reading them.

In Christ

abigya

Thanks. God Bless you.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 19

As I walk to work each day, I come to a place where I have to cross 3 traffic signals simultaneously. Sometimes I have to wait at each signal, wait for the green and cross, then wait again for the green and cross and the same again for the last crossing. But today was different. As I reached the 1st crossing, the green was blinking and I hurried through, the second had me walking through casually as the signal was green and as I crossed the 2nd, I could view the green at the far end of the 3rd crossing starting to blink green. As I scampered across and reached the other side, the red was on and the vehicles rushed past.

Funny how life is so similar to these crossings. Some places we get stuck with problems and have to wait for God's openings and deliverances, sometimes we just have to hurry to keep pace with God's moves and some places we just scamper through escaping the evil one's schemes by a small fraction.
Sometimes doors just open up one after the other like the 3 green signals that I crossed today.

I just thought about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. They were all walking on dry ground with the walls of water on either side. Most of them must have hurried through, not very sure whether they would really get to the other side. There were no traffic signals though, just a man of faith raising his staff and stretching out his hand over the sea.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 20

I saw a tigerstriped kitten jump from one bonnet of a car to another in a parking lot. It seemed to have taken it as a new game. It jumped from one to another and then another. I don't know what the owners would have thought about that but it seemed not to care a hoot. We exchanged glances for a second; it looked at me like I was a predator, so I just walked ahead. The next vehicle that it had to jump was higher and a bit far, so as I walked I thought that would be the last it would be jumping. Thud.. came a sound from behind and I looked back expecting it to be on the road and in discomfort, but to my surprise I found it standing tall on the Pajero bonnet.

Could that have been a "leap of faith"? Perhaps it was, though the kitten may never have realized it.

There's always an element of risk when we attempt things/projects with faith in God and His Word. That "suppose it doesn't work" thought often hinders us from doing things for the Lord.

King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered Daniel's friends to be thrown into the fiery furnace. But they answered,
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:17,1Cool

They had faith in God, but there was an element of risk involved too as we see from what they told the king. But God honored their faith and no harm befell them.

So shall we put our faith in to action?

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 21

I was at the super-market the other night and was buying some groceries when I saw a cute little girl, maybe 4-5 years old running through the store, tapping her father's hand and then running back. She did this for a while enjoying it to the maximum and my spirit rejoiced at the innocent mirth. Then I lost sight of her until I came near the ice-cream section and there she was with her hands in the open freezer scooping out some ice at the sides. She saw me and suddenly there was that look of being caught red-handed by someone. I looked the other way, then out of curiosity just looked back and there she was filling her mouth with the ice she scooped out. I had a good laugh seeing that and as I walked back home, the scene still lingered in my mind.

Sometimes we as believers also indulge in such minor mischiefs and I guess at that time we just do it thinking that no one is seeing, but the Father is always there watching. I wonder whether he smiles at our discrepancies! Perhaps he does except when we overdo it and hurt the Holy Spirit.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 22

Walking back from work yesterday was an ordeal. I was dejected and depressed and thoughts of defeat were hounding me. I had been praying for receiving my labor contract and labor card for the past 2 months, but it had not yet arrived. On it depended my sponsoring my wife and children in Dubai, UAE where I stay now. The children had to submit their visa page in school.

With all this burden on me, I had a prayer meeting to conduct at 8 pm. I didn't want to do anything. Didn't want to pray, to sing, to preach, nothing.....
But for me there was no option as far as I saw. In the past 15 yrs. or so of my ministry, many such situations have arisen, but the Lord has taken me through them by His amazing grace.

So here I was again standing before a small group of people with so much heaviness in my spirit, yet when I did what I had to do i.e. conduct the meeting as I usually do- praise, pray & preach; things started changing. The burden started to lift and by the time I finished with the closing prayer & benediction, I was free from all the problems that were plaguing my mind. It's not that I had received an answer to my prayers, but the promise of the Lord was being fulfilled:
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)"
Praise God for His mercies.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 23

I marvel at the timing of God. Though we do not always know what is going on, God is in control of everything.

Like this morning (22/05/0Cool when I was reading the Word, the Lord reminded me of a childless christian couple in Dubai where I live now. It had been quite a while since I had spoken to them. I felt like sending the guy an sms. "You both are always in my prayers. Tell me when there is some good news."

A little while later, I felt in my spirit to send him another sms with a Bible verse. So I typed in Joshua 1:9 which says,
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

Then I got busy with getting ready to go to work.
As I walked to work, the guy to whom I had sent the sms called. We exchanged "Praise the Lord's."
He said, "I just got up seeing a dream in which I saw my mother die and I was very sad, then I saw the mobile reminder ringing again and there were your 2 messages. I believe God is with me at all times and loves me that's why He made you send this message."

This maynot be a great happening for you as you read this but for the one who experienced it, it was God's Loving Touch.

God is good, all the time. Praise the Lord.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 24

I was walking in the mall holding my younger daughter's hand and we came to an escalator. As we neared it, she said, "Hold my hand properly Dad, I am afraid, I may fall while I am on it." I smiled and for a second I acted as if I was releasing her hand from my grip. She held on tightly and as we reached the top, I told her half in jest, "I will hold your hand like this till I give you in marriage to someone who will hold your hand from then onwards." She smiled and we went ahead with our shopping that evening.

Later as I thought about it, God put a few thoughts of His in my mind. He said, "The Holy Spirit does the same thing for each and every believer. He holds your hand and guides you through the path of life here on earth and then will hand you over in to the hand of the bridegroom when the time comes. Fears may come in your lives but He will never leave you till He has completed his duty to take you through to the end."

The Lord says and we read in the book of Isaiah,
"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." (Isaiah 41:13)

He also says,
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Praise the Lord.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 25

Why try to open a door that is already open? But that's exactly what I did when I absent-mindedly pressed the elevator button for the lift doors to open up. The doors were open, waiting for me to step in but there I was, not comprehending reality.

It's reported that a man was able to escape from every confinement, from straight-jackets to iron shackles. None could hold him. But there was one time when he was challenged and failed to free himself from a prison cell. He entered the cell wearing only his street clothes, and the cell door was shut behind him. Once alone, he pulled a piece of metal from his belt and began working the lock. But something was wrong. No matter how hard he worked, he couldn't unlock the door. For two hours he applied all his skill and expertise to the lock, but failed again and again. Two hours later he gave up in total frustration and slumping to the floor, hit the cell door with his head, and the door sprung open - it had never been locked.

God opens doors for his children often and then wait for them to enter and find peace, joy and fulfillment, but the children keep doubting and ask again and again for the door to open up. They place several fleeces before God, even though God would have already given them a confirmation. You can't open a door that God has already opened. Just enter and find rest. God bless.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 26

Pictures of a 4-month baby rescued from earthquake rubble in Sichuan Province, China has been put up on several sites on the internet. When soldiers found the body of his mom, the mom had died, kneeling and protecting her baby under her bow-shape body. The baby was still sleeping when he was found.The mother protected her baby from the rubble with her own body. The mom typed this message on her cellphone before she died.
"My dear baby, if you're rescued, remember that I love you."
This story has brought tears to the eyes of several thousands who have seen the picture and read the story.

The Bible is right when it says, "Love never fails."

The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy says,
"The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)"

He explains here that love can come only if a pure heart, a good conciense and sincere faith go together. Some very good advice for us believers in these end days.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 27

Picking up a spade to dig for the first few times may cause blister wounds on the palms. That’s because the hands are not used to handling such equipment. So it is with evangelism. Initially when one goes out to witness or preach, one may experience difficulties dealing with different kinds of people. Their looks, words and actions may often seem intimidating. One may feel hurt and be discouraged. Nothing to worry much though; for as one keeps handling the spade, the hands would get used to it and become firm and stop blistering.

As you get going doing the Lord’s work, you will understand that such things are part of the exercise and they won’t bother you much. Applying a little medicine and covering the blister with a bandage usually solves the problem. So also, prayer and laying one’s burdens on the Lord can heal the hurts when one does the Lord’s work.

 

[Trishann]

Amen Jeremiah, its like being a Mother for the first time. You don't know everything about being a Mother but through experience and time you learn and it is a continue learning. And seeking the Lord for help brings you in a right direction to go with your children.

Thanks Jeremiah, Trish:handshake:

 

[jeremiah7]

Amen Jeremiah, its like being a Mother for the first time. You don't know everything about being a Mother but through experience and time you learn and it is a continue learning. And seeking the Lord for help brings you in a right direction to go with your children.

Thanks Jeremiah, Trish:handshake:

Great thought :sure:

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 28

Weeds are a problem because they impede the growth of the sapling that we plant. Some weeds are easy to remove but some like creepers entangle the different parts of the sapling and not only impede the growth of the young plant but also crush them.

So are some sins in the lives of believers. Some sins are easy to overcome but some are like creepers because they entangle the believer's spiritual life crushing it and making it unproductive.

Trying to remove creepers that have entangled the sapling or growing plant is difficult. If one tries to remove it from the top, it invariably pulls the plant apart, so the best thing is to pull out the root of the creeper. It will soon dry up no more harming the plant.

Sins that entangle the spiritual lives of believers have to be pulled out from its roots. It's no use dealing with them from the top i.e. sinning and confessing, sinning and confessing. As Jesus said, whatever is making us sin must be removed from our very presence. Dirty books, novels, TV, Internet (i.e. if you don't know where to stop in dealing with these channels of entertainment) or anything that leads us into sin must be cast aside so that it will no longer entangle our spiritual lives and make it unfruitful.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 29

Travelling to the clinic for my morning practice, I saw a dog, a Pomeranian, lying dead on the road, probably crushed by a speeding vehicle. No one cared to remove it from the site. Perhaps it must have strayed from a nearby villa onto the road and met this gory end. The scene vanished from my mind as I got involved with my work at the clinic.

Travelling back, when I reached the spot where the dead dog lay, I saw a dead crow lying beside it, again struck by some speeding vehicle. This seemed quite unusual and I wondered how the crow now lay there. The only explanation that seemed to fit was that the crow had spotted the dead dog lying on the road and had ventured to peck at it for a while not realizing that death was stalking it also.

Thinking about this, a few verses from the book of Jude suddenly came to mind. Maybe not very related but still thought provoking.
"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear - hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude 1:21-23)

While evangelising and dealing with persons who are sinning sexually or in any other way, if we are not really spiritually strong and prepared to deal with these kind of sins and keep ourselves pure, we can easily fall into the same sin and be trapped by satan to do his bidding.

The attitude of "hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." will help us in this.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 30

Of the diverse prayer requests that I receive, one stands out. A middle aged woman once came to my clinic for treatment of Diabetes, Hypertension, Acid Peptic Disease, Rhematism & Partial Blindness. She was very sick and after I had examined her and given her the prescription, she said she had one prayer request.

OK. I said with a smile. Soon, with tears in her eyes she said amidst sobs, "Can you pray for me to die?"
I was taken aback and thought it was because of her sickness that she wanted to die. But on enquiring, she said it because of her son that she wanted to die. He was a chronic alcoholic and verbally abused her threatening to kill her if she didn't hand over whatever property was in her name after her husband's death. He rarely worked and even if he did work, he finished all his earnings on liquor. Many people had conselled him but he did not have a change of heart. She said she was fed up of life with sickness, poverty and abuse.

I did not immediately speak, so she continued with her woes.
I just let her talk and pour out her sorrows. After a while she just sat near me sobbing.

I didn't see any instant solution; she waited for me to pray.

I prayed, not for her to die but that Jesus would grant her peace amidst all the sorrows in her life. I told her about the love that Jesus has for her and that she should trust in him to bring about a change in her son's life. She shook her head in the affirmative but seemed unconvinced that things would change.

We live in a world that is suffering.... The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans:
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:22-25)

The whole creation is groaning....only a child of God has hope.....

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 31

A couple of months back, a middle aged man came to me for treatment of his Diabetes. Lean and slender, not more that 5 ft. in height, he looked pale and worn out. His blood sugar was very high. When I told him that, he said he didn't care. He continued, "Last week I took an overdose of Insulin, wanting to die; I lost conciousness,when I woke up I was in the hospital, my wife had taken me there in an ambulance on finding me unconcious." Poor planning, he added, I should have walked away from home after taking the overdose, no one would have known.

Why do you want to die? I asked. No one cares for me, that's why, he said. Talking further, he told me how he had worked day and night to support his family, lived in pitiable conditions in the gulf for some 25 years, helped his sons to complete their education, but now they didn't care about him. I talked about God. He said he was an Aethist. I told him, "No wonder God brought you here."

That set up a discussion. He was stinking of alcohol, but I thought I may not get another chance. He was not in agreement but he said, "I'll come back to hear more."I gave him a couple of my books as he left and asked him to go through them. He agreed. He came back a couple of weeks later and I enquired how he was. I'm O.K. he said, and then added, "I couldn't get your face out of my mind for the past 2 weeks." Can you explain, he asked.
I laughed thinking of the ways of the Lord. He looked perplexed. Then I said, "I hope God replaces my face with his in your mind."

I talked to him again about Christ's love for him. He didn't seem to agree and left a little while later. But I was happy, a seed had been sown. My part in the great plans of God in his life had probably been done. Never saw him again. Perhaps will. Only God knows. Perhaps another person has taken over the baton from me in God's scheme of things.

 

[jeremiah7]

Random Thoughts- 32

Though I am a Physician and do consultant practise concentrating on Diabetics, Hypertensives and Dyslipidemics, I often have to attend to pediatric patients in my clinic.

Children like to come to my clinic because unless absolutely necessary I do not prescribe them injections. The children in the clinic's locality often ask their parents to come to me so that they can avoid getting a needle prick that they may get elsewhere.

One such fellow was fond of me and had been my patient for quite a while. Once he was brought by his mother for being clawed by a pet dog. I had to prescribe a Tetanus Toxoid injection for him. He was his jolly self until he was led by his mother to the adjacent room and was given the shot. When he returned after getting the shot, there was a remarkable change. He looked alarmed and seemed to have lost all confidence in my non harming consultations. I didn't see him for quite a while after that.

It's like the relationship many believer's have with Jesus. Their initial walk is full of confidence that this Savior will not let them down in anyway. The brimming over with confidence continues for a while and then some situation comes where they lose that confidence suddenly and then they think---Why would Jesus allow this?

The boy in question who was given the TT shot returned after a few months for some other ailment. He was all smiles, he had forgiven me so as to say. He had forgotten the pain of the shot and the relationship was restored.

Same like us & the Great Physician Jesus I guess.

The good old promise "I will never leave you nor forsake you" has stood the test of time.