Adjust and Adapt to the Carpenter’s Vision

We're part of His heart!

In this blog post on Latter Rain, we’ll explore the importance of obedience as to how you grow and change. A magnificently large portion of your mental health relates to your spiritual health. Purpose, lifestyle, and feelings are all connections between your spiritual health and your mental health. How you view certain aspects of life as a spiritual being impacts the way you experience life in your mental health. So, if you want to learn why you should adjust and adapt to how God calls you to live, continue reading.

Visiting the Carpenter

First of all, you must know what is a carpenter. A carpenter is someone who constructs and repairs wooden structures. They envision a wooden structure like a table or a chair, and then, they set out to build the thing. And the unique thing about carpenters is that they first start out with nothing but with some materials. At the beginning, there’s no table, no chair, there’s nothing, but, there’s a vision of a chair or table in their head.

Now, God came in the flesh as Jesus Christ and before He started His ministry with signs, wonders, and miracles, He worked as a carpenter.

Mark 6:3 World English Bible (WEB)
Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended at him.

As Jesus Christ’s ministry unfolded, the crowd in the above verse could not understand who stood before them! Unfortunately, they did not realize that Jesus Christ was a carpenter to prove a certain point.

1 Corinthians 15:46 World English Bible (WEB)
46 However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

Why did He do it? I’ll tell you why, He did it to let you know that God can take your nothing and make it into His something. Moreover, God was proving a point through the natural means as a carpenter so that He might prepare them for the spiritual means. He’d shown Himself as a physical carpenter so that He might prepare them to behold Him as the spiritual Carpenter of carpenters, soon enough.

Just as a carpenter starts out with nothing but a vision and some materials to bring about something useful, God only needs a vision to make you into something glorious! That’s just the way God gets things done.

And there isn’t a single person who can get in His way until He’s done what He’s set out to do.

Isaiah 22:22 World English Bible (WEB)
22 I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.

When a carpenter pulls up his sleeves, bears the pinches of splinters in his palms, and gets to work with his hammer, that pile of wood ought to become what the carpenter wants. In a similar but heightened manner, the Carpenter of carpenters, Jesus Christ, pulled up His sleeves, carried a wooden cross, let the splinters of hell tear at his back, and bore the flesh-splitting pinch of nails in His hands and feet. Your life ought to become what He sees in His vision for you.

A Vision and A Purpose

As a person, made in the image of God, God has a vision and plan set out for your life. You do not need to fall into depression or extreme lows, because God went to the lowest possible point of human experience to give you the greatest experience a human being could ever enjoy!

So, whatever trauma you’ve been through, whatever hell you’ve experienced, Jesus knows it all! He knows it to an extent you could never dream of imagining.

Isaiah 53:3 King James Version (KJV)
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Jesus experienced social rejection, He experienced physical pain of the highest order, and He died on that rugged, wooden cross. As a matter of fact, when you look at the above verse, they called Jesus Christ, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

According to the verse, people associated grief and suffering with Jesus Christ. He suffered to such an inhumane extent that whenever people would think of the person of Jesus Christ, they’d have to think about suffering, too. But, you see…

He had a vision.

This vision was not anything to laugh at. This vision was pulling Him to embrace His suffering and to keep on going. He didn’t die on a wooden cross, humiliated and despised for nothing. I’ll tell you what He saw… It was you.

Hebrews 12:2 King James Version (KJV)
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He saw you as you were called to be, as a victorious, blessed, joyful child of God. There ain’t a carpenter like Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 World English Bible (WEB)
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

Adjust and Adapt to His Vision

Jesus Christ died on the cross so that by His suffering, you would not have to suffer as He did. No one but Jesus Christ is perfect. We’ve all lied, we’ve all stolen, we’ve all done things which are far from moral perfection.

Romans 3:23 King James Version (KJV)
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Furthermore, the only way for a morally perfect and upright God to excuse us from the punishment that awaited us, was to unleash His fury upon a perfect individual. That perfect individual was Jesus Christ, God Himself, in the flesh as a human being!

If you still do not comprehend as to why Jesus Christ died on the cross for you, visit this post, which might shed more light on the matter.

But, for those of you who do understand, and who have not accepted Him already, I urge you to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

Matthew 11:29-30 World English Bible (WEB)
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

For those of you struggling with depression, God deeply cares for you and wants you to listen to His plan for your life. To those struggling with suicidal thoughts, Jesus Christ died and rose again for you; His will is for you to live for Him. For those of you who can’t seem to take your mind off grief and trauma, I advise you, to think about the suffering Christ whose suffering makes you whole. And to those who are happy with their life as it is, I tell you that without Jesus Christ, your life will never be complete.

Your life is not meaningless, it is not purposeless, it is not the by-product of a purely naturalistic reality. There is meaning within you. Your life is His and His alone.

Ephesians 2:10 World English Bible (WEB)
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

Therefore…

Allow the Carpenter of carpenters
to bring about His vision

so that the life you indeed hold
will become something glorious to behold!

By Andre Wijesekera

Observing the Beauty of His Holiness

God shares His beauty with us!

The attraction to beauty in this modern age is undeniable. Beauty attracts eyes and ears like how lights attract flies. Humans love the act of observing the beauty of art pieces, movie cinematography, literature, and more. But, what is it that draws people to entertain their imaginations and natural delights with these things? And in this post, we’ll be looking into how beauty can help us to understand God.

The Beauty Around You

As I mentioned earlier, beauty is highly accessible in this day and age. Many embrace the thing called, “Art.” The reason that is so, is because people love to feast their eyes or ears on beautiful things. We, as a human race, adore beauty and want to see pretty things.

That is why there is a business for graphic design and advertising. Our human nature recalls beauty in its most primordial instincts and desires. The human heart loves observing the beauty around us.

As a matter of fact, you may enjoy rap songs, paintings, drawings, sketches, poetry, or anything else art-related. And I encourage you to enjoy art so as long as it fits within God’s boundaries for beauty since it can be very good for your mental health.

But, the main idea of this post is that beauty surrounds you. You don’t need to go to an art gallery to see beauty. Beauty is in the flowers of your garden or in the vastness of grand, ancient mountains. Wherever you are, there’s some sort of beauty surrounding you because at the end of the day, God’s an artist!

Psalm 19:1-4 World English Bible (WEB)
19 The heavens declare the glory of God.
    The expanse shows his handiwork.
Day after day they pour out speech,
    and night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech nor language,
    where their voice is not heard.
Their voice has gone out through all the earth,
    their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,

Every scene from nature seems to be a divine masterpiece!

Observing the Beauty of Holiness

Psalm 96:9 King James Version (KJV)
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

The Bible says to worship God in the beauty of holiness. Now, worship, if you don’t already know, is the way or the attitudes by which we exalt God in our lives for who He is. So, singing to God out of our love for Him can be a way of worshiping Him. Or giving to the poor because of our love for God, is another way of worshipping Him.

But, the Bible instructs us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Why? What does that mean? First, you’ve got to wrap your minds around what holiness means.

Holiness is the way in which we set things apart for very particular purposes. In the context of the Bible, to be holy means to set apart one’s life for God.

So, when the Bible talks about worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness, it means to lift Him up in your life by admiring how He is set apart. He is set apart from every other individual on the face of the planet because He is God.

Taking communion’s also an act of worship!

And He, being God, came in the flesh 2000 years ago as Jesus Christ so that He may die on the cross with the punishment for your sins along with my sins; then, He rose again from the dead after 3 days to fully justify our redemption in Him. I talk more about it in this post.

So, if you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, please do so, now. When you accept Him into your heart, His life flows through you, and you can truly recognize His beauty everywhere you go. Whether His beauty manifests through the creatures He’s made or the natural laws of the universe, His beauty is there nonetheless.

Living a Beautiful Life

Furthermore, there’s another reference to the beauty of holiness in the Old Testament of the Bible.

2 Chronicles 20:21 King James Version (KJV)
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

The verse above is a specific situation where singers were chosen in ancient Israel to praise God’s beauty of holiness. Again, there’s a beauty in the fact that He’s set apart from the rest of this world. But, this time, instead of worshipping God for that, they praise Him.

This is different because that means they’re giving thanks to God for the beauty that He’s unique. They’re not just exalting Him in their lives because of their love for Him, they’re thanking Him for the fact that He’s set apart.

So, God puts such importance in His individuality or His uniqueness. He is not like the other kings of this world who demands things from us for their selfish ambitions, He is the one King who cares for each of the people who serve Him and who loves each and every one of us.

Moreover, God has called you to be holy like Him. He made you in His image and now that you believe in Him, He calls you to live a life where your beauty is inwards not just outwards.

1 Peter 3:3-4 World English Bible (WEB)
3 Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing; but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

You are set apart for God once you accept Him into your life and that means you don’t enjoy profane forms of art, but instead, art which glorifies the attributes or nature of God.

1 Peter 1:16 King James Version (KJV)
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Make His Word, your life source! Be holy as He is holy…

Therefore, live a beautiful life by following the footsteps of God. He is beautiful because He’s not like the others in this world who seek things selfishly and entertain insatiable yet carnal appetites. And so, as He is, so are you. You are holy when you live the life God paid for on the cross. You are truly at your most beautiful state, when you are holy for God. So, don’t stop observing the beauty of God.

By Andre Wijesekera

The Life-Giving Power of Listening to Those Who Care

The Life-Giving Power of Listening

Your words have tremendous potential and impact. There’s no doubt that your words can either bless or destroy a person. But, in this post, we’ll be discussing the power of listening to life-giving words! Listening is a key part of living a life worthwhile, and if you want to experience the wonderful benefits that comes to those who listen, then, read this post as I hope this will profoundly bless you.

The Life-Giving Power of Listening to Those Who Care

Listening is etched into every single person’s life. It could be through audible words, books, or sign language, but, everyone needs to receive words or things they can interpret so that they may function in everyday life. If you have a job, you need to listen to a specific set of instructions or if you’re a student, you need to listen to what the teacher says. Otherwise, your life’d be in chaos!

But, first, you’ve got to realize the undeniable, life-giving power of words. Because without the proper understanding of what words can do in your life, there’s no need to listen to what really matters.

Proverbs 18:21 King James Version (KJV)
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

The power of life-giving words is unpredictable!

If you love life, then loving the life-giving power of words is a no-brainer. If you don’t love life, then I advise you to read this post. It concerns the One, Jesus Christ, who being God, came in the flesh as a human being 2000 years ago and received the divine punishment for your every sin and mistake; He then rose again after three days so that you may be justified, redeemed, and blessed before the judgement throne of God. He did this because He believes your life holds significant value.

Romans 10:9 World English Bible (WEB)
that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There’s a power in accepting words that are meant to uplift you. Receive life, not death.

Proverbs 4:20-22 World English Bible (WEB)
20 My son, attend to my words.
    Turn your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from your eyes.
    Keep them in the center of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
    and health to their whole body.

Listening to the God of Wisdom

How many of you out there, know that God thinks? God is a thinking God. He has emotions, He has a personality, and He made you in His image. Even more surprising, God thinks about you.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 King James Version (KJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Seek Him!

God is thinking about you and His sole intention is for your good. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a mess of a person or a philanthropist, God loves you. And He revealed that when He came as Jesus Christ. He revealed that when He let Himself be skinned alive by whips and nails, all for your sake.

Jesus Christ did it for a reason, and I won’t be able to cover everything in this blog, but that’s why you’ve got to call upon Him, read His Word, pray to Him, and you’ll find out.

Furthermore, God is wise, He made the heavens and the Earth. He knows you inside and outside, so, if you want words that matter, words saturated with life, meaning, and hope, visit the Word of God.

John 6:63 World English Bible (WEB)
63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.

God is telling you, today, to listen to Him. Listen to what His Word says because what He says matters! And He has nothing but good things for you.

The Prince Who Opens the Ears of the Deaf

Matthew 11:5 World English Bible (WEB)
the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,Isaiah 35:5 the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.Isaiah 61:1-4

Back when Jesus Christ walked the Earth, He performed so many miracles. One of the main things He did was that He opened the ears of the deaf. God’s Word has so many layers and His Word can apply to the physical and figurative senses at the same time.

So, from a figurative context, if you have trouble with listening to the Word of God, ask Jesus to heal you. He will because He never denies a prayer in search for Him. If you’re physically deaf, ask Jesus for healing, He still performs miracles, even today, including the miracle of opening deaf ears. I talk more about it in this post.

Nevertheless, listen to what God has to say. And He’ll talk through the Bible, He’ll talk through men/women of God, He’ll talk through your parents, He’ll talk through your loved ones, and more.

Job 33:14-17 World English Bible (WEB)
14 For God speaks once,
    yes twice, though man pays no attention.

15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on men,
    in slumbering on the bed;
16 Then he opens the ears of men,
    and seals their instruction,
17 that he may withdraw man from his purpose,
    and hide pride from man.

Be willing to let God change your mind…

God will try His best to speak to you, whether it be through a vision, a dream, or through people. But, don’t be like an ordinary person and ignore what He says as the above verse states. Listen to your Heavenly Father and heed His advice as any child would do.

Therefore, trust God and trust that what He says is the way to go. If He tells you to start showing more love towards others, then do it. If He tells you to be more organized, then do it, if He tells you to take a risk, then do it. Seek God and ask Him for His advice, let His life-giving words minister to you and obey them no matter whoever God uses to speak to you.

Romans 10:17 King James Version (KJV)
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

By Andre Wijesekera

The Seemingly Endless Potential of Growth

The seemingly endless potential of a path walked with God!

Growth is life’s tool to carve you into what God wants you to become! To become mentally healthy, you must make it a goal to grow. And growth can be a wonderful thing, but, it can also be a very painful thing. The choice as to whether you’ll love growth or not is up to you and so is the decision to grow. In this post, it is my goal to clarify the importance of growth and as to how you should unlock the seemingly endless potential of growth within your life!

What’s Growth?

The quick and short definition of the word, growth, is the progress we receive as we continue on life’s journey. And the thing about growth is that it can manifest in a multitude of ways.

Sadly, many people dislike the concept of growth. They just want to stay as they are and to avoid who they’ve been made to be. Furthermore, God has left the power to make that decision in your hands. He will not force anything upon you, but, He wants you to obey His voice.

Proverbs 18:2 World English Bible (WEB)
A fool has no delight in understanding,
    but only in revealing his own opinion.

Some examples of when you must decide as to whether you should grow include the following…

You must decide on whether to read the Bible and to actively commune with God or to spend that time watching TV. It is your decision to focus on your job or to slack off and watch YouTube videos on your phone. You must decide on whether to study for your upcoming test or watch a movie on Netflix. It is yours to decide on whether to spend half an hour exercising or to pop open a bag of Cheetos for your hourly snack.

These are all decisions where you make the decision to grow. And God is gracious enough to leave the seemingly endless potential of growth as something which you alone must decide to pursue.

1 Timothy 4:15 World English Bible (WEB)
15 Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.

The Seemingly Endless Journey of Growing

Now, growth sometimes feels like the end of a rainbow, but, I like to think of it more as a juicy fruit at the top of a tree. And if you want to actually grow as an individual, then, that means there is potential for you to grow. The end result of your growth is not something which you cannot obtain but something which you can obtain through the help of Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 11:1 World English Bible (WEB)
1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

To grow in the best way possible, it is absolutely necessary for you to trust God. You have to have faith that God will take you to the place you want to be. But, if you have not yet taken the step to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, do so now.

God’s got your back!

When you accept Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh, the One who died on the cross as the punishment for your mistakes and sins 2000 years ago, and rose again, Jesus puts His Holy Spirit within you. I talk more about it in this post.

Romans 8:11 World English Bible (WEB)
11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

So, if you believe that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and now His Spirit lives within you, what is impossible for you? The seemingly endless potential of who you can be is now a reality, as God, Himself, wants you to be who He has called you to be.

Let God grow you in your spiritual life, in your emotional life, and in your physical life. Allow Him to help you to become the best person you could possibly be and just do what you know God wants you to do. Don’t hesitate on what God tells you to do, especially, if God is calling you to do something great!

Luke 9:61-62 World English Bible (WEB)
61 Another also said, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”

Growing in Christ

The seemingly endless potential of who you can become is only possible if you walk with God. However, I warn you to not do things by selfish ambition and through trying to build a legacy for yourself.

Philippians 2:3-4 King James Version (KJV)
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Be active and do things for God’s glory! When you accomplish something, give the credit to Christ Jesus who lives within you. God did not create you to revel in your success but to do as much as possible for His glory. He wants you to be healthy in your mental, physical, emotional, and most importantly spiritual life.

Psalm 35:27 World English Bible (WEB)
27 Let those who favor my righteous cause shout for joy and be glad.
    Yes, let them say continually, “May Yahweh be magnified,
    who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant!

In the above Bible verse, God shows pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. This Bible verse is from the Old Testament of the Bible, so, how much more would He delight in the prosperity of His friends in the New Testament? Because now, you are His friend. Moreover, you are also His child.

John 15:15 World English Bible (WEB)
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

John 1:12 World English Bible (WEB)
12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

Above all, seek Him as that should take top priority in your life. Do what you know God wants you to do although it might be difficult. If God wants you to do something for His glory such as studying or working, He will make sure that it is nothing more than Christ in you can handle. And if the Spirit of Christ within you rose people from the dead, I doubt there’s anything in your way except yourself.

3 John 1:2 World English Bible (WEB)
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers.

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you! – Matthew 6:33

By Andre Wijesekera

The King Who Wipes Away Thy Tears

The King of Kings reaches out to you.

As humans, we all face times when we’re sad or just heart-broken. Sometimes, a feeling of sadness can just overwhelm you and you don’t know what to do with the rest of the day. Whether it be past memories of failures or current situations at your workplace, there are many reasons to become sad. Don’t confuse this with depression, as depression and sadness are very different in that depression is a much more severe and consistent issue than sadness (I talk more about depression in this post). But, in this post, we’ll be discussing how to overcome sadness and how to stay happy instead of sad, because of the King of Kings.

Grief and Sorrow

To start off, when you are in a time of crisis or a period of sorrow, you must first realize that God values your tears. Now, I’m not saying to cry like a wimp over meaningless issues such as a preference over a meal or a lack of time to play video games.

The sorrow that I’m talking about concerns issues which actually challenge you, such as the loss of a loved one or a rough break-up. These are all things where people tend to find it hard to move on from. And even King David, a man from over 3000 years ago, asked questions similar to what you’re asking within your heart.

Psalm 13:2 World English Bible (WEB)
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
    having sorrow in my heart every day?
    How long shall my enemy triumph over me?

And especially, if you’ve lost a loved one, it’s very difficult to move on. The feat almost seems impossible.

Job 3:1 World English Bible (WEB)
1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.

Job is the book of the Bible which talks about how a guy named”Job” dealt with severe grief and tragedy. All on the same day, thieves stole his livestock (that was his source of income) and all his children died as a tornado struck their house. To top it off, he then caught a painful disease which really pushed him to the brink of his sanity. That’s why he regretted being born in the above verse.

The man was devastated, and you may be, too. But, as Job found hope even in the midst of such disaster, so also, I want you to find hope in the midst of your tragedy.

The Incredible Value of Tears in the King’s Eyes

So, what do you do when you face these feelings? Well, first of all, you recognize that God loves you. And that means a lot, because what that means is that there’s hope for the future.

A hope for the future is definitely a reason to be happy. But, as you read the book of Job, it is very hard to pinpoint God’s love until God reveals Himself to Job nearer to the end of the book.

Nevertheless, God loves you so much that He values ever tear drop that leaves your eyes.

Psalm 56:8 World English Bible (WEB)
You count my wanderings.
    You put my tears into your container.
    Aren’t they in your book?

He collects your tears not because He has an obsession over tears but because He values and cherishes the one who’s crying. God is a loving God. It’s intrinsic to His nature to really love you. And if you’re going through tremendous hardship, there may be only one shoulder to cry on and that shoulder belongs to God.

Jesus loves you and that’s not just some cheap phrase coined by Christians to spread a religion. It’s meaningful, it holds such purpose and whatever tragedy has set itself upon you, you’ve got to know that the King of Kings is calling you out of the sorrow and into His love.

Revelation 21:4 World English Bible (WEB)
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”

In the above verse, God is prophetically talking about those in Heaven who’d cry and how He wipes away their tears. So, if God does it over there, of course, He’s here to be with you as the King who wipes away your tears.

Showing the World There’s a Reason to Be Happy

Please, read the below passage, word by word.

Luke 7:11-15 World English Bible (WEB)
11 Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him. 12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.” 14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” 15 He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.

Jesus saw this lady, crying and distressed. She had lost her husband, she had now lost her son. And the Bible says that when Jesus saw her, He had compassion on her. He knew that the son would be happy in Heaven, but, His heart could not ignore the sorrow of the grieving mother.

And so, Jesus told her, “Don’t cry.”

After that, He raised the dead man back to life because Jesus is the King of Kings.

If you’ve been crying your eyes out of their sockets, Jesus is telling you, “Don’t cry.” And I’m telling you that you ought to listen to what He says because He’s planning for a miracle in your life. For the widow, He raised her dead son back to life. For you, I don’t know what God’s planned, but He’s planning to give you a testimony.

God’s Not Done Yet

All I know is this, God loves you and He plans to bless you. Even with the catastrophe you’re facing, the King of Kings will bring about good from it. So, listen to Jesus’s plea as He tenderly tells you, “Don’t cry.”

Romans 8:28 World English Bible (WEB)
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

If you haven’t already and you want to show God that you love Him as it says in the above verse, then, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ died on the cross 2000 years ago and rose again from the dead so that as soon as you accept Him as your Lord and Saviour, His empowering, graceful Holy Spirit would live within you where you can have a relationship with God. I talk more about it in this post.

When you commit your life to God, He commits to you, too!

Therefore, come out of your grief and sorrow to witness the love of God just as Job did when He declares this in the verse below.

Job 19:25 World English Bible (WEB)
25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.
    In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

God even gave Job double of what He lost and restored Him to the point of where we now read the book of Job as a testimony!

Job 42:10 King James Version (KJV)
10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

By Andre Wijesekera

The Privilege to Live Eternally in Heavenly Places

You have the privilege to always be with Jesus Christ

Eternity is quite the word. It means “never-ending time.” And that word, that concept is quite the shock when you actually think about it. To believe that time will never cease can hugely affect your perspective on life. It raises a very intimidating question that overshadows your existence. The question which eternity poses, is “Where do I fit it in the context of eternity?” So, in this post, we’ll be exercising the privilege to explore eternity and what that means for you.

The Corruption of Eternity

As made clear in the introduction, time will never cease. But, when did it start?

Genesis 1:1 World English Bible (WEB)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And a verse from the New Testament of the Bible says…

John 1:1 World English Bible (WEB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So, as we can connect the two verses above, time began a very, very long time ago. In fact, God does not clarify how long He waited before making humans. God was uninterested in writing a science textbook, but, He was interested in reaching out to us through the Bible.

As a matter of fact, many of the confusions concerning the accuracy of the Bible arise from the flimsy presupposition that the Bible was meant to be a scientific journal or something like that. God was talking to ancient people who did not want to even change their lifestyle, let alone their knowledge of the world around them.

Nevertheless, getting back to the point of this blog, God created time. And so, after that point, if you read Genesis 1-3, you’ll find out that He made the Earth, He made animals, and He formed the first two humans: Adam and Eve. He told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:17 World English Bible (WEB)
17 but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

But, they disobeyed God’s warning by listening to a fallen angel known as the devil, and they ate from it.

Genesis 3:13 World English Bible (WEB)
13 Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

This event is when eternity shifted gears. God told them that they could eat from any tree in that garden, but they chose the one that God specifically told them not to eat from. And that knowledge of good and evil redefined the human mind, allowing for mental illness, sickness, and more. This is where hell on Earth started.

The Death of the Eternal One

Now, as humanity proceeded down the course of time with a knowledge of good and evil, every single person experienced that knowledge of evil. Knowing that there’s evil means that there’s evil. This accounts for diseases, for natural disasters, and for anything and everything that threatens human life.

So, did God leave us in this place? No, He came down to the Earth in the form of a human being.

John 1:14 World English Bible (WEB)
14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word, also known as Jesus Christ, is God in the flesh. And it was this very same Word, who the Bible says was with God and was God at the same time.

So, He took on the form of flesh to experience what it means to be human. Yet, He never sinned as other humans would because unlike normal human beings, He is mature enough to handle that knowledge of good and evil.

2 Corinthians 5:21 World English Bible (WEB)
21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Moreover, the religious leaders of Jesus’ time were jealous of His goodness and led the people to sentence Him to a gruesome crucifixion, but, it was God’s plan.

Jesus had to die on the cross so that when Jesus, the Eternal One, the one who made time, itself, dies on our behalf for our sinful knowledge, we would receive the privilege to call God as our Father just as Jesus did when He was on Earth.

John 1:16 World English Bible (WEB)
16 From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.

Jesus rose again after three days!

The Privilege to Live Eternally

Now, as children of God, you can live forever and not fear it. You don’t have to be unsure of what’s going to happen with you in the future. You just need to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, God forgives all your mistakes and sins because that belief in Jesus Christ credits all your evils to the punishment which Jesus Christ received.

Ephesians 2:4-6 World English Bible (WEB)
But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Now, you have the privilege to live together with Jesus Christ and the privilege to sit with Him in the heavenly places. That means even if you die on this Earth, you will remain alive with Christ Jesus because your spirit is safe and secure in His hands. But, this means you have all the more reason to live on this planet.

Whether you suffer from mental illness or physical infirmities, Jesus Christ promises to heal you.

1 Peter 2:24 World English Bible (WEB)
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.

Furthermore, you can face eternity without worry because you’re not alone. For all of eternity and in the ages to come, He will always be by your side.

Therefore, believe what Jesus Christ says and let the knowledge of His love and grace transform you. He has given you the privilege to never cease existing and to enter a relationship with Him because He is always with you, whether that be on Earth or in heavenly places.

Jesus loves you for eternity

By Andre Wijesekera

Telling the Truth to Those Who Seek It

Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life

Truth is a vast topic. And to live a mentally healthy lifestyle, I believe it is absolutely necessary to have a healthy understanding of what truth means. Because sadly enough, truth holds varying and inconsistent opinions by most people, today. Thus, it is good to ground yourself in the essence of truth so that you properly grasp your identity. So, in this post, I’ll be telling the truth to those who seek it.

What Does Truth Mean? And What Does It Have to Do With Mental Health?

This first subsection is going to deal with truth’s value, because I know that in your head, the gears must be turning and you may be asking, “So what?”

First off, you’ve got to ask yourself what does it truly mean to be mentally healthy? Well, it means that you can function in life, properly. Furthermore, it means that you can live a life where you’re happy with yourself and you can maintain healthy relationships with people.

But, to live a mentally healthy lifestyle, your mind demands a firm grasp on the truth. If you are going to establish and maintain relationships, people will want to know that you’re telling them the truth. And if you want to consistently be honest with others, you must first understand truth and be honest with yourself.

John 8:32 World English Bible (WEB)
32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Psalm 119:45

Therefore, the stability of your mental health is founded upon truth. Even more, God confirms this attitude where He wants us to tell the truth and to be honest, for our own good.

Proverbs 12:19 World English Bible (WEB)
19 Truth’s lips will be established forever,
    but a lying tongue is only momentary.

And God shows us that if one is wise, it is essential to be truthful, hence why He says to hold onto truth as much as you would in seeking wisdom, which I talk about in another post.

Proverbs 23:23 World English Bible (WEB)
23 Buy the truth, and don’t sell it.
    Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

Talking to the Man Whose Name Is Truth

Now, before anything and everything concerning the topic of truth, you must first meet Him. Truth is not only an abstract, it’s a person.

John 14:6 King James Version (KJV)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

And if you want to live a truthful life, you must first be honest with yourself. Do you want to seek the truth? As Jesus says in the above verse, He is the truth. Everything He does and says is true and there is no falsehood in Him.

If I must compare Jesus to anything, it’s a door. Not just any door, but the door to salvation.

John 10:9 World English Bible (WEB)
I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

So, when you connect the above two verses, you see that Jesus Christ is the truth and the door to everlasting meaningfulness. The Heavenly Father is on the other side of that door and when you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, who died on the cross but rose again after three days, you receive the privilege to be His children.

2 Corinthians 6:18 World English Bible (WEB)
18 I will be to you a Father.
    You will be to me sons and daughters,’
says the Lord Almighty.”2 Samuel 7:14; 7:8

Therefore, as children of God, you gain the rights to commune with God and for Jesus Christ, who is truth, to live within you. This is the key to living a life full of truth and meaning; this is where you start if you want to be truthful to others.

John 14:23 King James Version (KJV)
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Telling the Truth and Living It at the Same Time

Telling the truth to others is not easy at times, as deceit and lies may be very tempting in hard times. But, as children of God, you must walk in truth, no matter what. Let your life be exemplary. And see what John wrote to the Church concerning his Holy Spirit-inspired joy over their truthfulness.

3 John 3-4 World English Bible (WEB)
For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and testified about your truth, even as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than this: to hear about my children walking in truth.

Honesty is an admirable trait and for your own good, for the sake of your mental health, I urge you to refuse dishonesty. God even says that He’ll release a special blessing on those who walk in the truth because after all, He is the truth and by walking in the truth, you show that you are His children.

Psalm 24:3-5 World English Bible (WEB)
Who may ascend to Yahweh’s hill?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart;
    who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,
    and has not sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive a blessing from Yahweh,
    righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Therefore, be honest with yourself, be honest with others, and be honest with God. Moreover, God has made you His righteousness so live up to what He’s called you to be by following Him, and lying will become foreign to you.

Follow and seek the Truth!

2 Corinthians 5:21 World English Bible (WEB)
21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Joy of Release Upon The One Who Releases

The Joy of Release

Everyone in this world has been wronged at some point of time. Now, the majority of people struggle with an emotional dungeon within. And the reason being is that many cannot release those who’ve wronged them from their emotional dungeon. But, I am telling you for your sake and for the sake of your mental health, the one who wronged you is not in that dungeon, no matter how much you believe it. The one in that dungeon is actually yourself and as long as you hold unforgiveness, you prolong your jail sentence. So, in this post, I’ll be discussing the joy of release which comes with forgiveness.

Forgiving Those Who Want Forgiveness

In the following passage, Jesus says something about forgiveness…

Luke 17:3-4 World English Bible (WEB)
Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

In this passage, Jesus clearly talks about someone who returns to you and asks you for forgiveness. And when Jesus mentions the number of seven, He uses it to point out something.

Genesis 2:2-3 World English Bible (WEB)
On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

If there’s one thing about Jesus, it’s that God doesn’t do coincidences. Everything He says, has something deeper within it. And when Jesus says that if someone wrongs you seven times, you must forgive him/her of everything, He is using seven as an indicator of rest.

When God made all the world, He rested on the seventh day. So, when you forgive someone who’s asking you for forgiveness, you put yourself into a restful position in life. God wants you to forgive because when you forgive, you are releasing not that person, but yourself.

Resting in His forgiveness means to forgive others, too

That’s why there’s such a unique joy of release upon the one who releases. When you release someone from their wrongs, you release yourself and you put yourself in a position to rest.

Forgiving Those Who Don’t Ask for Forgiveness

Now, you may be saying, “Hah hah, Andre, in the verse you gave above, Jesus said you must forgive if they come and repent before you, but He didn’t command us to forgive if they do not ask for forgiveness!”

That’s an interesting point to bring out but you must still remember the allegory of the dungeon. Whether the person you keep in your dungeon of unforgiveness asks to be released or not, that person is actually you! And the reason being is that when you hold unforgiveness, it hurts you.

Matthew 18:19-22 World English Bible (WEB)
19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

In this verse, no one mentions anything about granting forgiveness only to those who ask for it. Jesus just raises the bar a bit higher by saying you must forgive a person even 490 times in one day!

And I believe by the grace of Holy Spirit, God did not attach a need for the wrongdoer to ask for forgiveness in the above verse.

So, the truth is that you are obligated to forgive others not for their sake, but, for your sake. God never designed you to hold a dungeon of unforgiveness within your heart, He designed you to be a forgiving person!

The Joy of Release

So, I plea to you to release everyone and anyone from your unforgiveness because you are not only releasing them, but you are also releasing yourself. If you remain in unforgiveness, only you will suffer, and God cannot make a testimony out of one who holds unforgiveness forever.

Ephesians 4:32 World English Bible (WEB)
32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

To enjoy the joy of release, you must release the ones you find hard to forgive. You just have to make the decision to forgive, you don’t have to feel it, but you must decide it.

Paul was talking to the Church of Ephesians in the above verse and He said to forgive others as God forgave you. So, when you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour who died on the cross and rose again after three days for your salvation which I talk about more in this post, God has automatically enabled you to forgive others.

Forgiveness is a decision and when you decide to forgive, God loves it. You don’t need to fast or beg God or do anything extreme to forgive, you just need to let go. Because once you’ve let Jesus rule in your heart, He already enables you to forgive, you just need to act upon it.

Therefore, this day, choose to forgive everyone who has wronged you whether they’re sorry or not, and taste the joy of release that comes with it! Walk by trusting in Jesus and decide to forgive, do not walk by your feelings to hold unforgiveness.

2 Corinthians 5:7 World English Bible (WEB)
for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Luke 23:34 – Jesus forgives

By Andre Wijesekera

The Uncomfortable Vice of Jealousy

God's grace will set you free from the vice of jealousy!

Have you ever felt the intense spirit of jealousy grip your heart? Jealousy is a common issue which people face in life, however, its implications differ from person to person. It is never comfortable and is not good for one’s mental health, yet, people entertain its spirit within their minds nevertheless. That’s why this post will deal with the vice of jealousy and how to revolve it.

What Type of Jealousy?

Firstly, there are several types of jealousy. The jealousy this post will deal with is the type of jealousy that yearns for the possessions or achievements of others. Now, examples include those who are jealous of others who are rich, own property or things that they don’t, and more.

So, if you are struggling with the vice of jealousy in that your mind always reminds you of how you really wish that you had another person’s yacht, or something like that, it’s time to renew your mind.

Romans 12:2 World English Bible (WEB)
2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

God wants you to renew your mind so that it synchronizes with His good, well-pleasing, and perfect will. And God wills for you to live in peace of mind. He doesn’t want your mind to wander in constant reflection of how you desire somebody else’s belongings. Jealousy is simply a waste of time and energy.

Moreover, God outlawed the action of jealousy by prohibiting the action of coveting. To covet is almost identical to what jealousy means in that it means to yearn for what someone else has.

Exodus 20:17 World English Bible (WEB)
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

The Old Testament law proves that God sees coveting as wrong and that’s why you should not act jealously. Jesus never coveted because He knew who He was. He knew that He owned everything in the universe and that He is the King of Kings!

But, how do you resolve that vice of jealousy in your own life?

Dealing with the Uncomfortable Vice of Jealousy

Now, there’s someone famous in the Bible who you must know if you are struggling with jealousy. And that famous somebody from the Bible is the one and only Apostle Paul!

Apostle Paul tried to deal with the issue of coveting and jealousy by himself and through obedience to the law, but here’s what he has to say about it.

Jealousy distracts us from what God gives us!

Romans 7:7-8 World English Bible (WEB)
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

Paul says in the above verses that the law of the old testament helped him to identify the issue of coveting in his heart. But, it did not and could not provide a solution to change his heart. Instead, the knowledge of what he was doing as wrong only made the issue worse.

So, how did the Apostle Paul find freedom from the urge to be jealous or to covet what others own? Let’s jump further down God’s letter to see what He says about it.

Romans 8:2 World English Bible (WEB)
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus overrules the law of sin and of death as Holy Spirit says through Paul. But, to abide under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, you must first accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

The Final Blow to the Spirit of Jealousy

Furthermore, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and ask Him to forgive you, everything changes. God takes all your guiltiness along with your past sins (including jealousy) so that Jesus acts as the atoning sacrifice for you.

The law of the Old Covenant demanded that you be removed from God’s holy presence if you broke it in any way. But, now Jesus Christ satisfied that demand when He was crucified for your sins and rose again after three days.

Hebrews 10:19 World English Bible (WEB)
19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

God is so wonderful that if anyone turns to Him no matter how many times they’ve messed up, He will provide grace. Look at Paul if you need an example, he used to destroy churches and kill Christians out of his obsessive hatred of Christians.

Acts 26:10 World English Bible (WEB)
10 I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.

However, when He asked Jesus for forgiveness, God accepted Him as a son. Jesus will forgive anyone who asks Him to forgive them because God is kind.

1 Timothy 1:16 World English Bible (WEB)
16 However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life.

So, when you become a child of God, God will grace you to overcome the vice of jealousy. As soon as you’re under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, you’re saved. Therefore, thank God for what you have and what He’ll continue to give you. Overcome the vice of jealousy by abiding under His Holy Spirit and asking Him to give you the grace to renew your mind.

His Grace is so beautiful!