A Good Friday Meditation (By Grace Ragappa)

In my journey back in my home country, its been very enriching to meet people from different backgrounds and age groups yet like minded. I was very blessed this good friday by a meditation by a friend of mine and pray it will bless you too..

1. A precious Life was snuffed out at Golgotha;
Too heinous for human expression, unmatched in history;
Nature and true hearts plunged into depths of sorrow;
Heaven alone, with all its hosts,gazed down in jubilance.

2.Hades hung its head in shame that Friday
Over the Christ writhing in agony on the Cross,
The Lion of Judah,so say the prophets of Him,
Momentarily donning the garb of a lamb.

3. The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
In the fiercest of battles,against the most diabolical foe,
Jesus let His crimson blood be drawn out
So man's robe may be washed as white as snow.

4 For the life of the flesh is in the blood;
His untainted blood flowed till all man's scourges
Could be blotted out from the Book of the Living;
Forever reversing the destiny of mankind.

5. That blood-blotched Friday turned to be Heaven's delight,
For the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
Was an action plan of the mighty Maker by design,
So that Evil may be changed to Good in Divine Exchange.


By Grace Rajappa.

Its time for a "compartment" move

Back into the comfort of the 4 walls of my home
A little quiet, a little silence
Ah!! the beauty of "Rest"!

No never ending phone calls
No deadlines to chase
No immediate pressing needs to address
Ah!! the beauty of "Rest"!

An ol' friend called me and said, "Are you truly resting!!"
Sleep you probably have
Activities you probably cut off
But Is your soul at rest!!

I smiled knowing my soul wasn't quiet yet..

Oh the lover of my soul, Lord Jesus
Come and quieten my soul, I cried!

I found my mind play back
The burdens of my soul one after the other.
Burdens related to need found shelter in the faithfulness of God
Burdens related to identity found shelter in the identity of Christ
Burdens related to hurts searched and searched for shelter,
They were looking for a place to rest.

I cried! Hurt! O hurt! you have no place in me to rest
I choose to host God alone and not you.
Quiet I said Quiet!
But it sought justice vehemantly

Soul My Soul! Silence your demands
Look at beauty of forgiveness at the cross
My counsel it turned down
In my strength, it was a loosing battle.

Off I sought the Lord in haste
Make hurry O Lord Make hurry
Lest I get transformed into the likeness of the world I cried.
Make Hurry and Help me
So I may continue to be transformed into your likeness.

His word says, He answers us when we call
True to His word He came in His tender loving kindness.
I cried, Lord ! I don't want to host hurt ,
I tried but the pain wont go away
Even if I ask it to leave.


The Lord opened my eyes of discernment of His Spirit
Greater insight on the intentions of the human heart came
O !! the venom of many a human heart
I wonder! did discerning the hurt help or hinder..
The reasons for justice amplified
I knew the true intentions and not just the actions..

I cried out again!! Lord!! What do you want me to see through this?

He came silently stepped into my heart
I heard Him reshuffle few things there.
I asked Him what He was doing

He said,

"your experiences are there to stay,
what you have gone through will remain,
But I have moved the hurts from
the compartment of offense to the compartment of "traning"
"Learning to develop the fruits of the spirit in my likeness"

Suddenly, I am no longer a victim but a student of the most wise and just king.
An honour to be under His wise care! Finally it is well with my soul :)

Simply surrender and let Him choose the compartment of your heart that
needs to be reshuffled. O Soul!! You will find rest in Him.

When the Lord and the heaven are silent !!

I find myself walk through a season where I find a strange silence.....

A silence that causes me want to stop where I am,
stop whatever I am doing
and
search frantically for the presence of my God.

I know without doubts that He would never leave me nor forsake me.
I know without doubts that He desires communion with me more than I could ever dream of.
If that's so, Why is it that all I hear is silence !!


I cry out saying,

Lord Jesus, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, forgive me and lead me in the way everlasting.

I hear no answer.

I say, Is there something that I failed to do Lord, please forgive me, reveal it to me and help me. I always want to be right with you.

I hear no answer.

It's strange how my heart and mind know that He is present, yet the silence is strong.

Ah the pain of the silence of God. I sat down reading few articles online and this sentence encourages me during this season, it reads,

When heaven seems silent, mercy and grace never is.

I walk on with this knowledge instilled deeper into my spirit that , "Faith in the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ is the key to making a silent heaven speak into your situation."

Even if my God doesn't, I know by now that, He alone deserves all the glory and He is the king of the universe and I will still bow down to Him and Him alone and continue to seek His ways.

I pray that my Lord Jesus Christ will increase my faith and enable me to be steadfast in it for His glory.

Withdraw in prayer or Stay in grace

When faced with a situation where you know you cant go on but you are right amidst a crowd, what do you do? Do you withdraw or do you stay beyond yourself?

I Wonder what you would choose to do.

I often find myself there. A situation where I find myself,

short of grace to tolerate even the slightest mistake,
short of anymore that I can give,
short of any more strength to carry on,
short of joy to rejoice anymore,
short of mercy because of hurts,
short of compassion of another persons hurts,
and many many more...

At the same time, I also see the need of the dear ones around intense and essential.

Torn between the two, I ask myself, what would the Lord do if He were in my shoes.
Praise God, He did not just sit in HIS throne and give us commandments to keep. He stepped down
and walked every bit of a human life and lived the same and left us with the step by step
way back home.

I have learnt that,The habit of seclusion is with drawing, momentarily or for an extended
period of time, from every day noise and demands, to spend some time with God for the
purpose of connecting with God and allowing your spiritual and emotional batteries to be
recharged.

When Jesus withdrew, he often prefered 2 places: around the water and the mountains.
Water speaks of life, even the storms of life. Mountains speak of strength beyond.

U withdraw gracefully
* to hear God the Father more clearly (Math 26:36-46)
* to re-charge spiritually and emotionally(mark 1:34-35)
* to eat ( mark 6:31-32)
* to gain the right perspective (john 6:15)
* to learn to do spiritual battle (Mathew 4:1-11)
* to listen to God

Jesus also withdrew when the people tried to make him King by force.John 6:14-15 and Mark 1:35

This is a place which we should exhibit caution too. The Lord deserves all the glory and if you
are in a situation where it is going to be directed to you rather than Him, we should choose to
correct and withdraw rather than take His glory.

In any other situation, I have learnt that we must choose to stay back in grace.

Look In the Mirror Of Life

A truthful look in the mirror I took
I had two options
I could look at what I see in its totality
I could look at what I wanted to see

I chose the former option
Ah!!! the pain that struck me.
I have heard "truth is seldom sweet"
And I tasted it for myself

I didnt think I was what I saw.
I fell short of many standards that I had set.
I was hiding in the glories of the good

The world knew me to be a fighter
Someone who sprang up from a fall
Someone who strived to over come
Someone who didnt let the past hold me down

The mirror of life showed me otherwise
Pointer to aspects where it wasn't true
Revelations of self-defined boundaries of success
Ignorance to everything else and attributing it as vain.

How can one like that be helped,
unless a light that exposes the darkness shone
The Lord found me and has been faithfully working on me
He shone His precious light on my life

Lo !! I could see a lot more in the mirror of life
Things I couldnt see earlier
Things I refused to see
Things I was blinded to

In this new insight of self
Down came the disappointments and frustrations
In seclusion I found myself go
And in the comfort of the closed space of just God and me
Began a slow acceptance of the same

I thought that was the end of the lesson, But I was wrong
The Lord taught me one of the most profound lessons of life,
And it is that,

"Denial of a problem does not remove its presence or diminish
its existence.

Acceptance of a problem does not conquer or overcome it either.

It is acceptance with accountability & a relentless spirit to
persevere to conquer in the Lords Spirit that not only overcomes
but also helps others overcome."

Tough yet rewarding is the walk of acceptance with accountability
Painful yet fruitful is the walk of obedience and perseverance
Tiring yet victorious is the walk of aligning to Gods will.
And In His spirit we can do all things.

May all of you experience the same too.

Scars !! Ones of pain and Ones of love

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole that was behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.

He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

In the house, his mother was looking out the window. She saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could.

Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed, and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms, just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began a very incredible tug-of-war between the two.

The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go.

A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim, and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. On his arms, there were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh; in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked the boy if he would show him his scars.

The boy lifted his pant legs. Then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, 'But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom wouldn't let go.'

You and I can identify with that little boy.

We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly, and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been right there, holding on to you.

The Scripture teaches that God loves you.

You are a child of God. He wants to protect you, and provide for you in every way. But, sometimes, we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming pool of life is filled with peril ~ and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That is when the tug-of-war begins.

If you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He will not ever let you go.

His word says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. May the scars of the love of God override and extinguish the scars of hurts in your life.

Words of your mouth - Whom does it edify?

There is not one day that passes by us where we haven't been a recipient of our own words or words from people around us.The word of God says " Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.(Ephesians 4:29)"

What is an unwholesome talk?

Many automatically think of vulgar or crass language.  That I must say is fit but over the days of learning I have understood that "those" are only the most obvious.It also includes things like gossip, cruel words, anger words, slanderous words, lying and deceitful words, harsh and complaining words, self-pity words,words that demand constant attention to satisfy needs of self.

Why is such a talk not good?

First, it breaks down the unity of the body of Christ.
If you know someone to be a gossiper, are you excited to talk to them?  Do go to them and ask prayer for you when you have problems?  No, you avoid them like the plague!  
If when you went to church, all you heard was criticism and put-downs would you want to get going?  
If the people there were snippy and told lies about one another, would you then listen to those same people when they led a Bible study?  Of course not.
If you find someone who constantly needs words of affirmation and wonders if the good you want to do for them is for real because according to them they don't deserve it, would you feel like doing it for them or for someone who knows to just receive in love.

Second, it destroys our witness to the world.  Even when the world thinks we are completely nuts, the one thing that makes us attractive to them is our distinctiveness – the fact that we live differently than they do.  If lost people are used to a freely flowing stream of unwholesome talk from our mouths, how will they react when we then try to offer them the water of life? Unwholesome talk does not encourage the body of Christ.  It does not build up the church, or make it attractive in any way.  That is why Paul says we should not let it fall from our lips. 

We should not use unwhole words, but rather encourage one another with words that build up.

Thus, every time you go to speak, you have to do so with the intent of building up the other person.  

You see, it is not enough to simply clean up our act.  It is not enough to simply stop swearing, or stop gossiping, or stop lying.  No, that’s not sufficient.  As children of God, we are to be proactive with our words.  Like our time and money and talent, we see our speech as a gift from God and we seek to use it for his glory and the good of his people.

Paul says, it’s important to get this because God desires us – specifically, our words – to be a means of grace in the lives of others. Thus Paul says there is no place for idle words, vain words without purpose or intent.   Every word you use, every sentence you speak should have behind it the aim, the goal of building up another person.

Now notice, though, that God’s grace should come at the appropriate time.  Paul says, your words should be ‘good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.’   In other words, when you are seeking to build up another person, it is important to know what they need at the moment.  Our attempt at encouraging them with word must be appropriate to the occasion and appropriate to the person.

What do they need?  Do they need to be counseled?  To be exhorted? To be corrected? To be warned?  To be comforted?

And always remember "do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

The Holy Spirit of God who dwells with his people is not some force, but is a divine person.  And he can be grieved – offended – by our sins.

Imagine living with someone who constantly irritates you by their words.  They speak crassly, use vulgarity.  But more than that, they attack your values.  They undermine your very existence and refuse to listen to you when you ask them to stop.   So, day after day, week after week, year after year, they have to endure this constant disrespect, constant lack of love for you.  That is something of what it means to grieve God’s Spirit.

Let us work at bring God’s grace to eachother’s lives, encouraging one another with words that build up.