Praise God! What an Awesome God we have! The Lord blessed me with a wonderful break, which was indeed needed before I was plunged into a week of Assessments in my course. The Lord has been doing amazing things in my life and in the life of those around me. He has been revealing His faithfulness and power, imparting gifts and healing spirits. Truly, Let everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD!
Called or Followed?
It is interesting to note that all of Jesus’ disciples were not called, you see, some of them sought him, and then followed him when they found him. We are always waiting to be called by the Lord. Have we stopped to think for a minute that maybe He is waiting for you to seek Him? We see in
John 1: 35- 42: The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas."
These men followed Jesus, they called their loved ones, dragged them along too to follow Jesus. It is important to realize here that Jesus actually passed them by. He did not stop or call them or address them. He said absolutely nothing to them as he passed them by. Surely he knew who they were or would be to him, but he waited for them to follow him before allowing them to be his disciples. Now if those two had heard what John said and just acknowledged it but did nothing, if they had not chosen of their own will to follow him, they may never had been one of the twelve.
It is important to understand that God has a path set for you, a plan for you, an outcome that would be victorious, but unless you choose to follow him and seek him, you may very well lose out on your opportunity to do great things for God and with God! Whatever course you take, God is able to guide you through it, but sitting in frustration about not being able to serve God or have a deeper relationship with Him may very well be the result of the fact that we do not seek God or choose to follow him. All of us call on the Lord, we cling to him for our salvation, it’s all about what He can do for us. How much effort do we put into what we can do for Him? How much time do we spend asking Him “Lord where are you staying?”..or in other words, Lord, where can I go to be with you? Take me to the place where I can always experience your presence!
Another amazing thing about the above scripture is how Jesus addresses Simon. It is so exciting and beautiful to see that the Lord recognized Simon for not only who he was at the time, but for who he was going to be! How wonderful it would be to hear from the Lord, you are Sindu, daughter of Thomas, You will be called…
Wow! The important thing to recognize here is that when the Lord meets you, he calls out your destiny in Him, he speaks forth what you will be and do for His kingdom! Those words that proceed from his mouth, will not return to him empty!
We see this clearly in Isaiah 55:11: so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
We all know that Simon did indeed become Cephas! He was known as Cephas (Peter) till the day he died and forever after! That is what the word of God accomplishes! What comes out of His mouth, will be fulfilled. When you meet God, he does not sit in silence, just as you are talking, he also says things to you, fruitful things, things that will establish your future and prosper your life! If Andrew didn’t take Peter to meet Jesus, we don’t know if Peter would have heard these words from Jesus! This shows the responsibility we hold to bring others into God’s presence, so that he can speak into their lives, to speak prophecy over them and bless their lives to be fruitful for him!
Let us pray and ask the Lord to help us to never lose an opportunity to meet with Him, to live and soak up His presence, to be blessed by the words He speaks over us! Let us pray that the Lord uses us to bring others into His presence, so that they may taste His goodness and blessings as well!
After a long break, I think it’s best to start with something sweet again!
Recipe for French Toast:
Ingredients
White bread slices – 4
Milk – 1 ½ cup
Egg – 1
Sugar – 4 Tablespoons
Salt – a pinch
Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon
Nutmeg powder – a pinch
Cardamom powder – ½ teaspoon
Cinnamon powder (optional) – a pinch
Margarine or butter – as required
Instructions:
1.In a bowl, whip milk, egg, sugar, salt, vanilla essence, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon to an even mix.
2.Soak a slice of bread in the mix and drop into a flat pan greased with margarine or butter.
3.The pan must be on low flame so as to not overdo the outside and with the inside of the toast uncooked. In about three minutes, flip the bread over to the other side and cook for another three minutes for the toast to be done.
4.Serve hot with maple syrup, fruit or ice cream.
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