Marbaniang, Domenic

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. (2Cor. 4:7) Commentators have often been reminded by this verse of the story of Gideon, his pitchers, and torches. In that particular story, Gideon had his 300 men hide torches within pitchers. They surrounded the enemy camp and when the trumpets blew, the men broke the earthen pitchers to let off the light shine. The Bible tells us that the excellence of God's power is the treasure hidden within us in earthen vessels. He chose these weak, vulnerable, and fragile bodies to carry around His great power by which He holds the entire universe with its dazzling stars, planets, and all life together. He didn't choose objects of gold and silver to hold this treasure. He chose us, men and women who are made of clay. But, unless these clay pots are broken that power cannot shine forth. In our humility and meekness, His excellency shines forth. When I think of the vulnerability and...

Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD. (Jer 9:23-24 NKJ) The world remembers Jeremiah as the "Weeping Prophet" of the Old Testament. He wept for a nation that never responded to his cries to repentance. He wept because he knew that their contempt of God's Law, their lack of seriousness and sincerity towards God's Word was nothing but an invitation of misery, calamity, and death. He wept because their self-opinion was too loud for them to hear what God was saying. He wept because it seemed that God Himself was exhausted of all opportunities to repentance that He could allow this nation anymore. God commanded Jeremiah, "Do not pray for this people, n...

"The fear of man is a snare, but the one who trusts in the LORD is protected (will be exalted, NASV)." (Prov. 29:25). It might be fear of being misunderstood, fear of being rejected, fear of being ridiculed, fear of being mistreated... whatever, fear is a snare - it traps you in and makes you indecisive, inactive, and ineffective. Fear paralyses a person; but, Faith protects and promotes. FEAR makes you INDECISIVE, INACTIVE, INEFFECTIVE. FEAR PARALYSES A PERSON FAITH PROTECTS and PROMOTES Prayer: Lord, I trust in you and forsake all fear of man that is not pleasing in Your sight, in Jesus' Name. Amen!

M...L...S 1. Temptation is MOMENTARY. It won't last forever. The devil tries to make it look as the final reality. But, it is not. It is just a test, and it'll be over; but, the question is whether you'll pass it. 2. Temptation is a Test of LOVE; and LOVE is an action. Love fulfills all the commandments. The two greatest are LOVE GOD with all your being and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself. But, love is not a feeling or emotion; it is an action. We need to LOVE Him more in the moment of temptation; it can only be possible when we focus on Him. 3. Temptation will make you STRONGER and PURER. It may stretch your muscle; but, not beyond your capacity; and then the HELPER, our TRAINER is there with us and knows what will make us stronger... Despite all this, let us never forget to pray: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one!"

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16) Often, the temptation in life is to try to run away from people. Someone would say, "I can do ministry; only if there were no people!" But, ministry and people are connected; it is impossible to separate both. Jesus Himself came to serve, not to be served. There would be someone else who might say, "Only if I could just run away to a new place and then it would be wonderful." Yes, you should run to many new places, as the Lord opens doors; but, do not despise the place you are in right now. Every candle has its own stand. Of course, sometimes, especially when it is dark, we have to carry our candle from one place to anoth...

Zacharias is a curious personality in the New Testament . The Gospel of Luke begins with his story, and he and his wife are introduced with the words: "they were both righteous before God , walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." (1:6). Note that  (1) They were both righteous "before God". There were many, and still are many, who would like to only look (or at least only look) righteous before people. The Pharisees used to wear white robes, stand in public places, and try to show how righteous and godly they were. But, Jesus called them "white washed tombs". They were not righteous in God's sight. But, these were the same persons who called Jesus a blasphemer, a violator of law, and condemned him to the death of the cross. However, Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of divine righteousness. It's not important whether think we are righteous or not. But, it's important what the True and Rightful Judge says about us...

"Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine." (1Sam 17:40). There are many lessons for life that can be learnt from this episode of David. However, one of the most fascinating lessons is the lesson of knowing what it means to have a balanced faith. Why did David choose 5 stones when he had to use only one? I've heard sermons that talked about the rest of the stones reserved for the other giants. One can find lessons for his own life from a story; a lesson that speaks to him in his own situation. But, looking directly at the very stage of the incident, I find one thing very instructive about faith: Faith is not an excuse for not putting the best of all we can gather into our bag. Faith is not an excuse to say, for instance, that I don't need to learn this or I don't need to concentrate on polishing my skills, or I don't n...

To those who love this country and pray for its salvation, here's my plea: Add this line to your prayer wherever you are; when you're in a restaurant, pray "Lord I pray that all here may be saved"; when you reach your company, pray "Lord I pray that all here may be saved"; when at school, "Lord I pray that all here may be saved"; so, at college, while waiting for a cab or bus, while walking through the mall, while traveling in train, wherever you are just speak these words and may the Lord make the difference. Let's fill the land with the sweet-smelling fragrance of our prayers. Pl re-post this if you can; let's see this nation reborn! "born not...of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13)

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5) Attitudes are our disposition towards someone or something. Our attitudes affect our character and relationships. Attitudes are important; they can either make a person or break him. Some years back a research was done on job interviewees who were successful in getting a job. The research revealed that the majority of those who got the jobs got them not because they were smart but because they had a right attitude. The Bible teaches us that God wants us to have the attitude of Christ. He left for us an example of how we must look at and treat our fellowmen, our children, our elders, and God. Jude 10-11 lists three kinds of attitudes that can destroy the life of any person. Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; th...

THERE is an ancient proverb in Hindi which says Rahiman dhaga prem ka mat todevu chatkai, Tootei to phir na miley, miley ganth parijai. [Do not snap the thread of love o Rahim; For, if it breaks it can't be be joined; and if joined, it leaves a knot.] It is not easy to forget the wrongs that someone has done against us. And, even when we get reconciled sometimes, there is some knot, some painful reminder, some grudge that is left behind. But, the Bible teaches us that we need to learn not only to forgive, but also to forget the hurt, or else the reconciliation is not perfect. Divine love, the fruit of the Holy Spirit (not of our own self), makes that possible. When Jesus forgave us, He kept no record of our wrongs. The Psalmist says "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psa 103:12). The prophet Micah could say "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Mic.7:19). Isaiah could say "You have cast all...

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. ( Deuteronomy 33:27, NIV) THE ETERNALITY of God demonstrates His unfailing power of self-existence and self-sustenance. He is both invincible and indestructible. Therefore, He is our best refuge. Earthly shelters and shields have their bounds against bruises but God is a sure refuge of all those who trust in Him. The promise of the Scripture not only tells us that God is our refuge but also that this security is undergirded by His everlasting arms, which speak of at least three things: 1.  Care.  His everlasting arms underneath us speak about His love and care towards us. As a mother holds her child in her arms, so does He hold us in His everlasting arms.  Someone said that the four letter word LOVE can also be spelt as CARE. For if we don’t care for someone then we don’t even love that person. But God demonstrated His care and love towards us so much as to send His beloved Son to die for us. 2. Comf...

A young man wanted to do some farming in his farm. So, he went and obtained some wheat seeds, had his farmland plowed and sown, and watered the field daily. He waited for 10 days. When he didn't see any sign of wheat, he got frustrated. He thought "It's not going to work!" However, he decided to wait for another 10 days. On the 8th day, however, when he saw no wheat, he said to himself "Either the seed was bad or this land is not suited for wheat." So, he replowed the land, destroying the tiny wheatblades that had already sprouted. He thought, "Let me try soyabean, this time." So, he sowed soyabean, but when he didn't see any beans after 10 days, he became frustrated again. He tried a few other crops this way, and finally surmised that farming was no longer his kind of job. So, he gave up. Lesson: 1. Know well what you're doing and the principles of the work before you undertake it. Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, do...

‎"The fleshly mind is enmity against God: for it is not obedient to the law of God, neither can be." (Rom.8:7, Tyndale). It's one choice which renders one strong or impotent. A fleshly mind is a mind not set free by the Truth. It is ruled by desires, with passion confused. The mind of the Spirit is ruled by the Sword of the Spirit.

Talents are the responsibilities handed over to you. Unless you are faithful in these, you can't be trusted for greater ones. In this parable recorded in Matthew 25, the talents (bags full of gold) may appear to be very big responsibilities in our sight, but to these servants they were not so, having been trained in the administration of such business for long. They were given talents according to their ability and not beyond that. Two of them were faithful; the last one, sadly, wasted the time that could be put to multiply the talent -- and time lost is lost forever, of course; in addition, he may have only been living out of the master's store, or being paid for being a servant during this time of idleness that he spent. He only added loss to his master. I've heard of people who, when they applied for higher jobs, were first put to little jobs such as cleaning the toilets as test of their faithfulness. If one can't be faithful in the least that he is asked to do, he i...

Text: 2Timothy 3 Essentialities of Truth Perception 1. Moral Commitment to Pursuit of Truth (vv. 1-5). In the last days, the decrease in the will-to-truth will occur by the increase of love for pleasure and a rebellion against absolutes. Atheism is a mind-set that can't hang on to absolutes and attempts all escapism from the truth of God. It is a moral problem, not a theological one. Those who wish to follow truth must make a commitment to obey it no matter what the consequences would appear to be. Only the ardent seeker will find. 2. Critical Mind-set (v. 6). Gullibility is a dangerous evil. It usually follows a will-against-truth-towards-pleasure. The credulous are easily deceived. One must weigh things before submitting to them. 3. Truth-Orientation (v. 7). All learning must be with the goal to know the truth, and not to heighten skepticism. Questions must lead to knowledge; not end in doubt. Too much of learning without any earning of wisdom is a wild chase after the wind (Eccl...

"building yourselves up on your most holy faith"   Jude 20 In Galatians 3, Paul asks the Galatians how it had happened that they had begun in faith, in the Spirit, but now had been bewitched to end up in the flesh. These believers had not been careful to continue in their faith. Their life had failed to logically relate to their original faith. Historically, the Crusades and the Inquisitions were examples of the Church failing in the logic of Faith. In the personal Christian life, when the believer fails to derive his principles of practice from the originality of Gospel faith, his faith-life has run a shipwreck. It's like the Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress who is detracted from the path of the Cross by the Worldly Wiseman. In the case of the Galatians, it was the Judaizers who tried to introduce Jewish rituals and rites as mandatory into the Church. If we have begun our Christian life in faith, we can only grow if we keep ourselves in that faith. If we have b...

The Bible talks of two kinds of faith: the common and the personal. 1. Common Faith. It is the faith that is declared by God for all people generally. It is the general truth of God's revelation that can never be changed at any cost. It applies to everyone regardless of place or time. It is our common faith. (Titus 1:4, Jude 1:3). It comprises the basic doctrines and tenets of the Christian faith that are essential to the identity of being Christian. The core of this faith is belief in salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. 2. Personal Faith. It is the faith that is specific to a person and may not apply to someone else' temperament, mind-set, or context. For instance, in Romans 14, Paul talks about someone's faith that is not offended by eating meat, while someone else' faith that is offended by the same. In such contexts, Paul urges we do not become judgmental of someone else' "weakness" of faith, but avoid things that may offend a fellow-b...

"Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!" (Jer 31:4). Amazing is that GRACE that blots away the past irrevocably: the once HARLOT (Jer.3:8) is now a VIRGIN (Jer.31:4)!!... Behold CHRIST makes all things new! I remember the story of Doreen Irwin, a woman who had been in the occult for very long and had been the queen of black witches. But, Jesus delivered her from all the evil spirits that had captured her soul. One day her heart was in distress thinking of all her sinfulness and the immoral life that she had lived. While deeply grieving her miserable state and pained by the memory of guilt, she suddenly heard a voice. It was the voice of Jesus speaking in her spirit. He reminded her of Mary Magdalene and how Christ had changed her life. Then He declared to her that she had been forgiven. All her sins were forgiven and her guilt removed because of the price Jesus paid on the cross. She had been delivered from the condemnation of guilt. Her conscie...

"...that no flesh should glory in His presence." (1 Cor.1:29) Every man desires to have a hero and become a hero. Everybody desires fame; if not, at least the glory of being superior than the others by adoring someone special. We live in an age of celebrity culture , who have gained the same status by the repeated presentation of them by the media in many places at many times. These visible lights attract many eyes. Some have looked to them for hope. But, history has proven that man's aspirations from man have often ended in disaster. Humans are usually the same all throughout. It is we who idolize them. Some are idolized for just " 15 minutes of fame ". Then, there are those instruments of propaganda that cunning men have used to deceive the simple and attract them to themselves. Anti-racial, anti-communal, and anti-national feelings of hatred all breed from tales and testimonies that falsely depict other humans as lower than oneself. We live in an age of mass ...

The two simple ways are given by the Lord in Matthew 26:41 where He exhorts His disciples saying, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." WATCHING To watch means to be discerningly attentive. Whenever you feel drawn to something that is alluring and tempting, you need to ask WHY it is alluring and tempting. It can never be alluring and tempting until it is able to distract you from the Lord. Temptation is a subtle process. So speak to yourself these truths and take immediate actions to banish the tempting thought. 1. This temptation is trying to make me forget the Reality that is centered in Christ. It is trying to suck me into a virtual reality framed by sin where sin is acceptable. 2. The world where sin looks beautiful, reasonable, and true is unreal; the Reality is Christ and His love for me. 3. This suffering (if temptation to deny faith) is temporary, no matter how hard it is. The world that the temptation to deny faith sucks me into is a web spun by...