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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature.
Not only those Devos' which have a different theme everyday but also the ones
which revolve around a certain theme over a period of time, say a fortnight have
richly edified me. In fact, both styles have their own inherent advantages.
If the former style caters to the varying spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day,
the latter aims 'to ground' a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full
benefits of the deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the styles'
whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different facets of it which admittedly
is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style than the 'Varying topics' one.
For starters in the first month of January I would be dwelling on the theme of the
"Christian Journey", with the material being arranged in a Book-like format under which the pages
would be opened ( i,e..displayed on-line) on each succeeding day.
So here's wishing you a happy & an edifying read....
Suresh Manoharan
January 25th
Foretaste of both Hell and Heaven
“.... sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;
drunkenness, orgies, and the like...." -
Galatians 5:19-20
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Yesterday, my dear friends, would recall that we had dwelt on the
ultimate control of God by focusing on how , He can even use the
old adversary -Satan- to punish us , in order we repent &
come back onto the right track.
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This topic in light of the scripture below, which we focused upon yesterday too
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"Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." -
I Tim 1:20
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would lend itself into yet another question, in what way would God use Satan to
punish the errant Christians? Would Satan be permitted to do bodily harm
or would he inflict spiritual harm on us or both?
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On this subject, I would like to take my own life as an example. Whenever,
I have willfully disobeyed my gracious Lord & had been quite rightly given
into the hands of the devil, my suffering had been spiritual. Whenever devil
took hold of me, he would bring the evil 'baggage' of traits outlined in the
captioned scripture portion above into my heart, giving me a foretaste of Hell.
How horribly, I had suffered when involuntarily all the despicable traits such as hatred,
anger, envy took root in my life especially, when I had been hitherto enjoying the
fruit of the Holy Spirit (foretaste of Heaven), which is
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"... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" -
Galatians 5:22-23
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This suffering, would bring me to my knees seeking God's forgiveness for
my acts of sinful disobedience. Once, I had sought His forgiveness, He would
lovingly restore me making me even forget that our relations had been strained,
just some time back. Really, when God forgives our sins, He forgets them too reminding
one of an Old saying 'When God buries your sins in the deep blue sea, He posts the sign...NO FISHING!'
What a joy to be restored! What a joy to enjoy His joyous presence in our hearts once again,
for our hearts are made for Him alone!
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Many mature christians would echo my sentiments which I have recorded above.
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Prayer:
Father, what a privilege, it is to be Your children, ones’ You care for so lovingly. How often,
we have grieved Your loving heart and reaped the results thereof. Let the just punishment
we have received in the past, deter us from taking wrong decisions, in the future. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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