[Sajjan George]

Bro. Richard:
Thank you for sharing about your life experiences, especially from your college days.
Yes, we all have to go through various trials in life. The purpose of which is to mold us into the image of Jesus Christ. The whole of Old Testament is a lesson for New Testament believers, to learn from the failures and successes of various people.

Yes, as you said, there are trials and temptations. Trials comes to test us in our faith, and if we persevere, we come out victorious. Temptations are from Satan, which he brings because of our cravings for worldly things, but if resist him with God’s armour, he flees from us.

[Sajjan George]

Bro. Lawrence:
Thank you for sharing about your experience about suffering. Yes, its humanly difficult to make rationale when we go through different trials and sufferings. Sometimes these are results of our doings, and sometimes God lets us to go through as a test of our faith, as He did for Abraham and Joseph. If we are not rooted in God, there is a chance of us slipping away from Him. Yes, Job did question God to know the reason of his suffering, but he did not deny God even once.

As you said, most of the times God doesn’t change our situations, but through these trials He changes us, and that is the primary purpose of trials that we go through, so that we are molded into the image and likeness (our attitude and character) of Jesus. So that finally we are ready as His bride, and ultimately ready for His coming.

[Sajjan George]

Bro. Lawrence:
Its very unfortunate that we see all these in our churches. The differentiation between the poor and the rich. Its exactly being played out, as was told warned by Jesus and the Apostles. We compare each other based on the type of houses we live, type of vehicles we drive, type of jobs/business we are in, and so on.

In the New Testament churches, rich people sold their belongings and help those who were in need. I hope that even in this last days, there is mighty move of the Holy Spirit, leading people to repentance, such that there is a great revival, and that leads to a great harvest of new souls into God’s kingdom.

[Sajjan George]

Bro. Richard:
Yes, you are right. Its very unfortunate that we see all these in our churches. The differentiation is there based on caste as well as financial status. The overall situations of all mainline churches are very sad. Elections and politics and back-stabbing and slander, and all evils. We showcase behaviours worse than an non-believer.

I hope and pray that the current situation we are in, is a wake up call for all of us, and including the pastors and bishops. That we will all repent of our evil ways and cry out to God. That the leaders will take up their God-given responsibilities of shepherding the flocks according to God’s word without adulteration, knowing that we are all accountable before God. His coming is at the door. We better be ready for real and eternal things.

[Sajjan George]

Earthly wisdom divides God’s people. Has your church or ministry ever experienced division? What methods, if any, did you find that brought healing to the situation?

Yes, many times there has been a divide. Most of the times it has been because of pride, ego, selfish ambitions or intentions. I have been a part of the church committee since the last few 5+ years, and its was quite unfortunate to see this happen in church/body of Christ. Another prominent issues that I keep seeing is the playing of politics, favoritism, and people pleasing. The sad part is that the Pastor of the church is also a key player. Its very sad to see carnality being displayed. For the pastor, its a matter of survival. So he tries to please the wealthy or prominent church members, so that they can sustain him and influence the rest of the congregation.

There have been may instances of all these kind of situations played out time and again. I perceive that when the eternity mindset is lost, and earthly desires comes into people, that is when they get into these modes. I believe it is the pastor/shepherd’s responsibilities to ensure such things do not happen. For that first thing is for him to have the vision and purpose of his calling cleared. That is when he can rely and depend on the anointing of the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, correct and reproof the congregation in the right direction.

Only thing that has help each of the time is – Prayer. I have cried out for God to intervene, and He has done, though the issue or problem is not completely removed, but God has made ways brought a workaround and way out. Plus, there are few elders and families, who sincerely and faithfully pray and intercede for the church and church families. That is one of the reason that the church is going on.

May God help us to be faithful stewards and prepare us for His coming.

[Sajjan George]

According to James, it is possible to be joyful in the midst of suffering. Have you ever experienced this? How do you typically respond to trials and suffering in your life?

Yes, it is possible to be joyful in he midst of suffering. Its not easy, and it does not happen automatically. It is possible for those who have a true relationship with Jesus Christ, and are led by the Holy Spirit. Those who are mature in the word of God, and understands that God gives us His grace and sustains us each situation. We need to know like the David says in Psalm 23, “Even though I go through the valley of shadow of death, I will not fear, your rod and your staff they comfort you”. There are many promises in the Bible. Each of the book of the Bible, or even each characters of the Bible teaches us to persevere, as listed in hall of faith in Hebrews 11. Jesus has told us, “In this world you will have tribulations, but do not fear, I have overcome the world”. So we can trust in God and have faith in God that nothing happens in our life, without the knowledge of God, and He is with us in all situations. Most of the times, God does not change the situations, but uses the situations to change us. God’s desire is for us to be transformed into his likeness in our character and attitude. His plan is to prepare us for the eternal hope and eternal blessing.

I have personally been through many situations for trials and suffering, like loss of job, sickness, sickness of family members, financial crisis, reproach and contempt from people, etc. Each situations are different and experience has been different. Each situations have helped me “to taste and see that the Lord is good”. Each time it becomes easier to know and trust God, that He will carry me through, that He is in control, and that He loves me, and cares for me.

[Sajjan George]

The following are the messages that I receive from epistle of Hebrews:

We are redeemed and saved by the atoning work of Jesus Christ. He died for us, resurrected and is victorious over death, ascended to heaven and is our advocate for us before the Father; He is preparing a place for us and He is coming back again to take us to be with Him.
And so our love, obedience and allegiance should only be to Jesus Christ.

Some may have experienced angelic interventions or help, or help from strangers, who would have helped us (as an angel sent by God), and we are to be thankful to them. But our worship should only be to Jesus Christ. We have our priests and pastors in our churches and congregations, who shepherd the flocks, who teaches us, and helps and counsels us, and is there in our good times and bad times, and yes we have to to be grateful and respect them. But we should never be fearful of them, or try to please them or show favoritism. Our allegiance should always be to Jesus Christ. To Him alone we revere, and our priorities should be first to God. Yes, we participate and help in our church and everything related to it, but it should be only as an act of worship to God, loving others as Jesus loved, and everything we do should be done for the glory of God.

Hebrews teaches us that we should not be swayed by trials and tribulations or persecutions that comes into our lives, and we should never quit or pulled back, or fall away because of all the challenges that we face on this earth. We are to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, because without faith we cannot please God. We have such an array of faith champions – the old testament and new testament saints who have gone before us enduring all these, but yet they were are faithful to the true God who had called them. As we run our race of Christian faith, we are surrounded by these earlier champions, and they are cheering for us that we can do it, we can make it successfully, if we keep our look and focus on Jesus. Yes, sometimes we face difficulties, but those are the small chastening that God takes us, as His loving children, so that we come out shining, so that we do not go off track, and so that we complete our life, according to His calling.

The book of Hebrews also exhorts us to hold on to our faith, live our christian lives in love and hospitality, in the fear of God; to look forward and wait faithfully for the eternal promise of the return of Jesus Christ.

[Sajjan George]

One of the false teachings I face is the teachings related to worldly blessings, that is, material blessings – wealth, houses, cars, etc. Somehow this understanding has come into the minds of believers that when a person all the above blessings, he is indeed blessed by God. And additionally, people think that if a person is not experiencing all these blessings, there is some problem with that person’s spiritual walk with God. In other words, those who have all these visible possessions, they have started that thinking that they have all these as a blessing from God because of their righteous living and spiritual holiness. It has become the norm of churches and congregations.

Most unfortunate thing is that the shepherd of the flock, the pastors are teaching the same, and not trying to correct this false understanding and teachings already in existence. In fact, they are also pursuing the same path. The Fasting & Prayer that happens in churches or fasting that is kept/observed by believers are usually for achieving material or worldly things – for job, for building a house, for a car, for children’s marriage, for children to settle abroad.

The whole situation in Pentecostal faith and believers are unfortunately very sad. Nobody talks about preparing for the coming of Jesus, for separation from this world in holiness. The situation that we see and face now – pandemic of cornavirus Covid19, lockdown, loss of lives – all these are nothing but a precursor to the end times. This is a wake up call by God to all the believers to set our priorities right, to repent and turn to Him again, and prepare ourselves for His coming.

[Sajjan George]

One of the false teachings I face is the teachings related to worldly blessings, that is, material blessings – wealth, houses, cars, etc. Somehow this understanding has come into the minds of believers that when a person all the above blessings, he is indeed blessed by God. And additionally, people think that if a person is not experiencing all these blessings, there is some problem with that person’s spiritual walk with God. In other words, those who have all these visible possessions, they have started that thinking that they have all these as a blessing from God because of their righteous living and spiritual holiness. It has become the norm of churches and congregations. Most unfortunate thing is that the shepherd of the flock, the pastors are teaching the same, and not trying to correct this false understanding and teachings already in existence. In fact, they are also pursuing the same path. The Fasting & Prayer that happens in churches or fasting that is kept/observed by believers are usually for achieving material or worldly things – for job, for building a house, for a car, for children’s marriage, for children to settle abroad. The whole situation in Pentecostal faith and believers are unfortunately very sad. Nobody talks about preparing for the coming of Jesus, for separation from this world in holiness. The situation that we see and face now – pandemic of cornavirus Covid19, lockdown, loss of lives – all these are nothing but a precursor to the end times. This is a wake up call by God to all the believers to set our priorities right, to repent and turn to Him again, and prepare ourselves for His coming.

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