NEW BEGINNING

As children, many of us would have learned about the amazing transformation of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. The ability of the caterpillar is limited. They can only crawl and not fly. Caterpillar are stubby, fleshy and some are hairy. Your life can be like a caterpillar today. But the Lord God who created us, can transform our life and make us be a blessing to so many people around us. All we must do is submit our self in God’s hands.

To become a butterfly, the caterpillar must fall apart completely, decompose down to its very essence, and literally dies. In the same way for us to go to the next level, there are certain things in us that should die, in other words our flesh must die.

To become a butterfly, the caterpillar must fall apart completely, decompose down to its very essence, and literally dies. In the same way for us to go to the next level, there are certain things in us that should die, in other words our flesh must die. The Bible tells us in Galatians 5:16 “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Some of the things that are needed to be put to death are mentioned in the Bible. Colossians 3: 5-10 says “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Ephesians 4:22-24 says “ You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” You may feel it’s really hard to get out of some bad habits or addictions, you may have a desire to be free of them all but find it hard to break free. Many times, you may hate the life that you are living. without real peace and joy. But the Good news is, when you ask Jesus, He will give you His strength and His grace to overcome all this. Matthew 19:26b says, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. You can talk with Him as you talk to your friend, and ask Him to deliver you from this destructive lifestyle. The Bible says when we ae in Christ we are the new creation,2 Corinthians 5:17  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

For a caterpillar to become a Butterfly, it must shed its outer skin 4 or 5 times. We must leave behind certain things for our life to be transformed.

Next, for a caterpillar to become a Butterfly, it must shed its outer skin 4 or 5 times. We must leave behind certain things for our life to be transformed. Once the caterpillar sheds its skin it does not carry the shed skin after it transforms to a butterfly. In the same way we must leave behind our past, our regrets, our mistakes and move forward.The Bible says in Isaiah “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”. You are not created to live condemned, defeated, depressed, unworthy,Guilty,You are more than a conquer.You may remember the things that happened in the past again and again and sometimes we condemn ourselves, but God wants you to forget that, don’t dwell in the past. I John 3:20 says “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things”

·       You are created for a greater purpose.

·       You can do great things through Christ who strengthens you.

Rhema For Kids Letter A

The greatest gift that God blessed us with is the children. Psalms 127:3 (NLT)says that “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.” God entrusted us and gave the children in our hands. Its is our responsibility to bring up the kids in the ways of the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Deuteronomy 11:18,19 says “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”

As parents,Let’s teach the word of God to our kids. Definitely one day we will see theirs lives being transformed.I started teaching my daughter ABC Memory verses,when she is a toddler . I used to teach her some memory verse and I will take a printout of the objects or animals or fruit that starts with that particular letter . She loves to color the Printout. For instance if its letter A , I will print the clip art of apple and write the verse on it .And I will cut the clip art images to the shape . My daughter loves to put it on the wall with push pin or double sided foam tape.

Now because she is in the Preschool I thought of doing in a different way. Just wanted to share how I teach the word of the Lord to my kid. If you liked it, you can use the resources and the coloring sheet .

Letter A:

Verse: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28(I taught my daughter the portions which are in bold letters)

letter-a-coloring-toddlerDownload

letter-a-coloringDownload

Link for the Songs (Teach them any one of these songs)

Story:Teach them the story of Joseph.After teaching them make them Understand that everything works together for Good.

For Toddlers:

For KinderGarden:

Because my daughter is a preschooler I am teaching her the sight words as well

Sight Words for Today:

• AND
• ALL
• WE
• TO
• FOR
• WHO

Crafts :

craft-letter-a-1Download

You will need

1. Print the above doc.
2. Scissors
3. Color pencil or crayons

Cut to shape the above picture and write the verse on one side and sight words on other side

Mystery Revealed

The Meaning for Mystery is  “ anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown”

 The Lord God whom we worship is a God who Reveals the Mystery(secret things) . Daniel 2:22 says “He reveals deep and secret things” & Daniel 2:28 says “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God.”Deuteronomy 29:29 says “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets”

Lets see how this Mystery was  made Known to Paul, the apostle of Gentiles.

Saul  was a Jewish man born in the city of Cilicia, Tarsus and was taught according to the perfect manner of law at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel is a Pharisee who had good reputation among the people and he is the doctor of the law. On his way to Damascus Saul had an encounter with the Jesus and he received his sight back and Holy Spirit and was baptized too. He was with disciples for certain days and straightway he started to preach in the synagogues.

 Saul started to preach  the Jews that Jesus is the son of God. That means he didn’t started his ministry to Gentiles yet. Acts 9:22 says “But Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus”.  And  after many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall .

    What happened next is in book of Galatians .Paul Instead of Going to Jerusalem he went to Arabia,we can read that in Galatians 1:15-18 “ But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.” Note from the above verses he didn’t conferred with the flesh and blood (Human beings) neither he didn’t went to the apostles who were in Jerusalem. He went and inquired God and then he went to Jerusalem. Instead he went to the one who separated him for this ministry that is the Ministry for Gentiles.

Paul returned again Damascus as he mentioned in Galatians. You can read about that in Acts 9:28-30 “So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. “

Have you ever thought what Paul did three years in Arabia. He received a revelation of the gospel from the Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:11-12″ But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”   Jesus said in Matthew7:8 “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” This verse clearly says when we ask something to the one who created us we will receive it . It can be our financial blessing or Physical healing or spiritual blessings. But we have to ask according to the will of God.

 Few insights that I learned from the life of Paul . Are we depending on the Jesus for something  or on Human beings ?  Are we looking to the Lord for the Counsel  or taking counsel from friends and neighbors? Are we discussing our problems with Friends or we laying it down at the feet of Jesus? Are we waiting upon the Lord regarding our calling or are we  doing something in our own flesh?. Paul went to the lord and asked to Him about his calling. 

 When David faced a challenges, he went and asked to the lord. When Jehoshaphat wants to fight against Ramoth Gilead, he inquired to the lord. When the dream was shown to Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel and his friends asked to the God and he received the dream that Nebuchadnezzar saw and also the revelation from God.The lord who we worship is much able to send a help for us when we are in need .

 1 Corinthians 2:10, Says “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ” The Gifts of the Holy Spirit is divided in to three categories (Revelation Gifts, Utterance Gifts and power Gifts). The reason why these are called revelation gifts are because these gifts reveal(unveil) something. The revelation gifts are A. Word of Wisdom B. Word of Knowledge C. Discerning of spirits. When we ask the God he will bless us with these Gifts of Holy Spirit so that we can understand the Word of God in a deeper way.

To know about the Mystery that is revealed to Paul check out this link  MYSTERY REVEALED PART 2

ALIVE IN JESUS

Ephesians 2:1″ And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” Paul speaks about the Spiritual death here.Death Means ‘separation of one thing from another. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body.Spiritual death(Eternal) is the separation of the soul from God. Death is the result of sin.
First Lets see how sin entered this earthAnd the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you  shall surely die.”  Genesis 2:16

Adam was physically alive after he committed the sin. Adam lived for 930 years.But in that same day he got separated from God.Sin separates us from God because He is a holy God. Man Kind lost the relationship with God and the authority that was given to man by God as the result of sin .
Therefore, just as through one-man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.

Now lets see what is trespass and sins:Greek word for sin is ‘hamartia ’  which means Miss the mark (To fail of ones purpose) which occurs 448 times in the bible.To say in others words sin is “Doing something you should not do against god and that makes god angry.”
Greek word for Trespass ‘Paraptoma ’ which means ‘ to fall away’ or ‘To deviate from right path ” or “Go beyond your rights” (para away  ptóma to fall) Occurs82 times 
Few other Verses for reference:
I.“For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23
II. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.  I Cor 15:55-57
III. For as in Adam all die . I Cor 15:22

Ephesians 2:1 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins”

BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS “God through Jesus Defeated the Death in the cross and brought a victory for us. He took our sins upon His shoulder. We are made alive in Jesus Christ” . As written in Isaiah But he(Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him. “Death is defeated ,the king is alive The grave is empty, Christ is risen .Power of sin is broken,Christ is Risen indeed.Praise God for his son Jesus Christ ,the .only Savior of the world”
Now Lets read the continuation of the verses I. “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23II. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Cor 15:57
III. “even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” I cor 15:22

God through Jesus Christ Made us alive and He restored back relationship with the Father. So we become alive through Jesus.He gave us a life,life in abundance. Some situation may look dead in our life but when we invite Jesus in our life he can turn around the situation for us. He is a lord who restore everything.  Also when we ask God for the help any thing that is keeping us away from Jesus will be broken and we will start experiencing the love of God.
Jesus said, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)