All prophets and apostles in the old and the new testaments found thier teams in their respective trustworthy aides, disciples and friends, on whom they leaned in order to remain effective in their ministry.

And so is the same with church ministry, though what I have realised is that, it could, at times, be really challenging to select people to be a part of your team, especially if it is a church leadership or a ministry team.

Over the years, there have been a few things that I have personally looked into before picking my team mates, which I like to share over here. I hope it helps you as well.

1. Follow Your Vision

There are many who will be blessed by your ministry, some who would be blessed by your life, but few who would actually catch your vision. You need to be able to discern between who is following you and who is actually following your vision. There are many who followed Jesus, but Jesus didn’t make all of them into His team.

You may have a lot of close friends who love you and are great supporters of yours, but not everyone can be your team unless they carry the same vision as yours. What we need to understand here is that we cannot convert every follower or disciple into a team member. Our team should be made up of people who really believe in the vision and are ready to rally for the same.

2. Hard Work & Commitment

It is interesting to note that Jesus picked up most of his disciples from their respective work places…some were fishing, one was collecting taxes. The fact that they were hard working in their present occupation was a confirmation that they would do the same for what Jesus would commission them for.

Dedication is another key aspect one has to be careful about. Will the person stand the test of time? Apostle Paul, in fact, fought with Barnabas to get John Mark off of his travel team because he wasn’t committed enough in their previous trip. I myself have lost team members who had the same vision and were hard working as well, yet lacked the dedication and commitment to stand for the same till the end.

That was one thing about Jesus’ disciples that thrills me! Except the one who betrayed Him, every one of them were brutally persecuted and tortured for the sake of the mission, yet they held on till the end.

3. Avoiding Nepotism

I borrow this one from Bishop T D Jakes’ sermon (Click here to watch the complete sermon). Nepotism is when one shows partiality towards the one he/she likes and favours them and puts them on his/her team. This is especially relevant in India and among some cultures and communities who wouldn’t allow or appoint anyone from outside their language or culture to be on their board or their team.

This is a mistake that I have made in the past and have regretted. Whatever reasons one may quote for the same, it is not a Godly thing to do. We serve a God who shows no partiality, or favouritism. Let us do the same in our own ministry and work cultures.

4. Character vs. Skillset

Not everyone would agree but it is important to look for a person with a sincere character than one with amazing capabilities or influence. We all tend to want to put the most effective person on our team. Yes, it’s great to pursue excellence, but when we do it at the cost of overlooking character faults, we might end up paying big time.

When you have a humble and teachable person willing to be part of the team, the specific skill sets that you desire in him or her can be developed over time and hard work.

Always, prefer the heart of the person over his hands. You will never go wrong that way.

5. Led by the Spirit

In fact, this is THE most important thing that should be on our hearts when we are in the process of setting up a team. Jesus spent an entire night in prayer before selecting His disciples. In fact, He continued to regularly take them to God during His prayer times even after that. If you are intently listening to the Spirit before taking each step of the way, you will never be led to the wrong places.

Has this post helped you? What are the things that you would like to add to the list? Please discuss below.

Though I couldn’t really explain or help them see through their doubts at the footpath on that day, because of their aggressive way of questioning, I do believe that most of their questions has rational yet truthful answers based on the scriptures and factual information from the history of mankind.

The question I would like to address today is this: Does the Bible prove conclusively that Jesus was, is and forever will be God? I am sure, most Christians out there will close their eyes and say, yes! But this post is dedicated to the skeptic, seeking and learning friends of ours who are genuinely seeking for reasons to believe the same.

There are many sects even within Christianity who claim to believe, teach and practice the principles of the Bible yet do not agree on the divinity of Jesus Christ. For eg: Jehovah witnesses believe that Jesus was a Son of God but not God!

Here are few of the many reasons and scriptural references to the divinity of Christ Jesus!

1. Jesus is Worshipped

One of the things that God clearly commands and expects of His people is that they worship none but God alone. No other image, or angels or saints or even prophets and messengers of God are entitled to receive worship. Yet, in the scriptures over and over again there are references to Jesus being worshipped. And the shocking thing for a skeptic is that Jesus didn’t condemn or refuse it. Here are a few instances;

2. Jesus Claims Divinity:

Please understand that Jesus wasn’t crucified for preaching at the synagogues or for healing the sick or for feeding the hungry. That would only get Him more publicity, fame, invitations and honour. He was crucified because He claimed to be God, Jesus claimed to be equal with God! And no matter how hard they tried, the Jews couldn’t understand or fathom how that could be, that Jesus be God! Here’s an excerpt of a conversation between Jesus and His disciple.

John 14:8-9 NLT

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father! So why are you asking Me to show Him to you?

In another conversation, Jesus claims to be the “I AM”, giving the same introduction that God Himself gave to Moses at the burning bush and people almost tried their best to get Him killed immediately.

John 8:54-59 NLT

Jesus answered, “If I want glory for Myself, it doesn’t count. But it is My Father who will glorify Me. You say, ‘He is our God,’ but you don’t even know Him. I know Him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know Him and obey Him. Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to My coming. He saw it and was glad.” The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can You say You have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!”

At that point they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.

3. Disciples Testify It:

For something to be true about a person the people closest to him or her should be able to witness or testify it. For eg: a wife can give the best description of the husband and vice versa.

John 1:1,3 KJV

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [3] All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.

This is Apostle John speaking of the identity of Jesus. He writes in sync with Gen 1:1 that talks of an “In the beginning” And inspired by the Holy Spirit, John writes: and the Word was God!!!

That is our Lord Jesus, and Word became flesh and lived among us and carried our sins to the cross and died for us, and was raised to life on the third day by the Spirit of God, so that all who put their trust in Him, will enjoy life in abundance!

What have been your challenges in understanding and acknowledging the divinity of Jesus Christ? Please share with us so we can address the same.

Though we love each other, most days of the weeks post marriage went by with us being involved in activities and ministries together, without us getting real ‘relationship-time’ with each other. So we decided that we would keep aside a few hours every week which we would use as our date night time, with no distractions of mobile phones, ministry responsibilities or even family pressures getting in the way!

This made me think, that though we all love God and that we live this life for Him, very often our life gets entangled in a number of activities that we do along with God, rather than those that lead us to a real ‘relationship-time’ with God where we actually go on a date night with Jesus and let Him take pleasure in us, and we the same in Him.

As I say this, I feel the heart of God call me into a deep relationship with His heart, much deeper than the one I share with my lovely wife. I feel the Lover of my soul wooing me to Himself!

And thus it says in Song of Songs 2:10 (NLT)

‘My lover said to me, “Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!”‘

I wish to go on regular date nights with Jesus, where I don’t allow the activities and the responsibilities of every day life to get in the way of me getting to know God and God getting to know me.

Would you allow the Lord to have the same access into your life, where He is not just your Protector and Provider, but also your Lover, one whom you cannot live without? Will you learn to live a life of daily dependence on God’s love for you?

It is out of such closeness and intimacy with God that the life, character and the ministry of Jesus begins to manifest through our life. And that is our destiny, to live a life that bears the image and glory of Jesus in every aspect of our lives.

As we were in prayer this morning, God spoke to both of us through Phil 4, a part of which we would like to share with you in this post.

1. Always Rejoice

Philippians 4:4 (AMP)

Rejoice in the Lord always delight, gladden yourselves in Him; again I say, Rejoice!

It is a continual commandment in the bible, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice in the Lord!!! If we can make it a practice to rejoice irrespective of our circumstances, there will be no problem or worry that will look big for us.

2. Remain Unselfish

Philippians 4:5 (AMP)

Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near; He is coming soon.

It is in times of immense pressure that we tend to become more selfish (than what we already are) and struggle to change everything to revolve around our likes and wants. At this point, the greatest lesson to be learned is the lesson of selflessness. We have to do our best to not give in to the temptation of becoming selfish no matter how much the situation demands.

3. Don’t Worry

Philippians 4:6 (AMP)

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything..

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Is there anything more precious than enjoying the peace of God in our hearts and minds? It will not only guard us but also guide us into all the ways of God.

May I ask you how you’ve handled anxiety and worry in your life? Does this post help you? What is it that helped you the most? Do share!

She is also pastoring New Beginnings Church, alongside her husband Pst. Chethan Henry. You can connect with them now at    www.propheticvoice.in

I’m thankful for a good dad in my life. Because of him I was able to understand the love of my Heavenly Father.

I know not all of us are blessed with good earthly fathers, but we all have something in common, an everlasting Heavenly Father.

When I first came to know my heavenly Father, I used to use my relationship with my earthly father to better understand how God loves me. I’ll illustrate this better with a story.

It was 2005 when I came down to India for medical school, my parents came to drop me off , we had planned it so that, they would be around in India for the first week of school and then leave. But last minute the school postponed the starting date to a week after my parents flight back to Canada was booked for. I was calm and excited for starting medical school for the whole period, that is, until the night before my parents were leaving. That’s when it hit me, and that’s when I wanted to book another ticket and join them back to Canada.

So there I was scared, didn’t have words to say, with tears rolling down, and my dad took my hand and took me on walk, and he told me this: “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices in life, I know this is hard but it will be worth it in the end. Don’t look at the now but look at the goal you want to reach.”

With my dad’s words of wisdom I wiped away my tears, lifted up my head and broadened my shoulders ready to face what may come because of the courage those words spoke into my spirit.

This is the same with the words of our heavenly Father, there are days when we are so scared to move forward, days when the future is a scary thing, days we want to run back to bed and sleep away the troubles, but then the Word of our Father comes. His Words are Spirit and life.

Keep those words close to your heart, drink from it, live on it, for without it, it’s a scary battle out there. 

“My son, be attentive to My words;

incline your ears to my sayings.

Let them not escape from your sight;

keep them within your heart.

For they are life to those who find them, 

and healing to all their flesh.” Proverbs 4:20-22

God bless you as you discover more and more of your Father’s love for you in His Word, may His words strengthen you for the battle!

Praying this post has ministered to your hearts. Please feel free to share below your thoughts and experiences of your encounter with your Heavenly Father!

On conquering Jerusalem he ruthlessly killed the inhabitants and took about 18,000 people captive back to Babylonia of whom Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were few. Daniel records a few of the king’s extravagant activities, including the building of a Golden Image.

The context to the gold statue was thus: the king saw disturbing dreams that no magicians could know or interpret. But God revealed the dream and the interpretation to Daniel. In the dream he had seen a huge statue of a man with a golden head and its body made of silver, bronze, iron and clay. This great statue was seen being destroyed by a rock. God spoke to the king through Daniel who explained what the dream meant. The golden head represented King Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom, whom God called king of kings! And the other elements were subsequent kings and kingdoms. The stone was to represent Jesus Christ, who would bring the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

From the passage it becomes clear that it was God who had appointed Nebuchadnezzar for His divine purposes. However, Nebuchadnezzar, proud of his splendor and majesty, aspired to surpass his God-given position of honor, and decided go beyond it. He did so by making a statue just like the one he dreamt of, but made it purely of gold, from head to toe. Not only that, he also passed a decree that his nation was to bow down before it, emphasizing that he was invincible and that no other king or kingdom could overpower him.

That was the first and the only step leading to his downfall.

As a child of God, one thing you and I should always remember is that the place where God places you is where you belong to. If you try to go higher or fly higher, you always end up in scary situations.

We all know how the story proceeds. Nebuchadnezzar becomes deranged, was driven away from men and lived like the beast of the field far away from human inhabitation. Only when he returned to humbling himself before God and acknowledging His sovereignty over his life, that he was restored back to the kingdom.

Many would agree with me if I say that the pride of life is the deepest and most difficult of all things to win over! If a wicked king like Nebuchadnezzar could get over his pride and live in humility, so can you and I!

I would in future posts love to talk more about the ‘Hows’ of dealing with pride. But for now, can I ask you to inspect your heart to find that one thing where you seek self promotion or self exaltation? We would love to hear more about your battle with Pride! Please feel free to share in the comments below.

How often do we actually walk past hungry, naked and homeless children on the roads without it raising any sense of emotions or alarm in our heart, or we just erase the guilt by just giving them some sympathy money? Could it because our hearts have become numb to the pain and suffering in the world around us or is it cause our love has grown cold?

When I see people like Stephen, all I can see is the image of a loving Heavenly Father who is keen on bringing home the lost and the broken, to feed them, nurture them and nourish them. The real question over here is not if you are willing to help or support children, it is whether you carry the same heart as your Father in Heaven.

You do not have to be married or be a father yourself, to know or carry the Heavenly Father’s heart. You will develop the heart of the Father when you walk long enough with Him. As you continue to grow into the image and stature of Christ Jesus, you would learn to give and to love unconditionally like Jesus did.

Can you inspect your relationship with the people around you in the context of your heavenly call and find out in what aspect is God leading you to be a father? Is He requiring of you to be a shelter to the homeless? Is He leading you to be a provider for the poor? Is He leading you to be a shepherd to the lost sheep? What would it be that God is requiring of you to be able to reflect the Father’s image?

James 1:27 (KJV)
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

I want to pray for each if you who is reading this post, I am praying that the heart of the Heavenly Father will be revealed to you, and that revelation will grip your heart to the extent that your life would begin to reflect His heart, in Jesus’ name!

As a ministry we desire to start a feeding project for under privileged children, if you would like to partner with us, please to us at info@pastorpriji.com

I know of so many people who started off as those really passionate for God and His word, and those who’ve known and experienced the truth of  the kingdom of God, but whose passion has worn down with the passage of time and the bitter sweet experiences of life. Now, their ministry has become just a normal routine done out of obligation to people.

When Jesus raised a question in John 21:15, “Peter, Do you love Me more than any of these?” to which He got a response in affirmative, Jesus gave Peter a command, “Then feed My sheep”. It meant that Peter should prove his love for Him by being obedient to his calling as a minister.

In other words, one of the key reasons why people in the ministry lose their passion and vision for ministry is because their love for God has gone cold. Doesn’t a wife, who loves her husband, not enjoy helping him out with his work? Doesn’t a man, who loves his mother, not wholeheartedly help her with the household work when she asks him to? In the same way, any lover of God is, and should be, passionate about the great work of God happening on this planet right now.

The commandment to make disciples applies to all, whether we are pastors or not! (Matt 28:19) The day we stopped doing that, we not only became selfish by being content with our own private relationship with God, but also chose to rebel against Jesus’ commandment.

Praying is not enough. Yes, Jesus did ask His disciples to pray, in Matthew 9:38 (NLT) “So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.” But He followed it by commanding His disciples to go out and be the workers in the fields. Matthew 10:5,7 (NLT) Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions,”Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Praying without expecting God to use you to be the answer for your prayer, is hypocrisy. [ClickToTweet]

Let us then be eager to love Jesus and to feed His sheep, irrespective of the ups and downs in our own personal lives!!

Sometimes, we can be truly lost in our pursuit of spirituality if we forget who and what we are after. All that we do and are in our relationship with God is completely meaningless if there is the absence of not just one, but a series of continual revelation of who God is!

Without revelation, we are like the crowds who followed Jesus aimlessly, applauding the miracles and healing as mere spectators. However, with a revelation, we are like Peter, who knew exactly who Jesus was, and followed Him for that reason, and not just for what He did.

Practically speaking, a revelation involves many aspects, like hearing from God, receiving visions, prophecies or divine communication in or through direct or indirect medium. Here are a few keys to receiving your personal and direct revelation of Jesus Christ into your own life!

1. Pray Specifically Seeking a Revelation

Most times, our prayers are only supplications or are need based.

Here’s what Jesus said in John 16:12-15 (NLT): ”There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’”

We need to pray asking the Holy Spirit to give us more of Heaven’s downloads everyday. Do you believe this promise of the Holy Spirit speaking to you in detail regarding all matters concerning the truth? If yes, claim for the same in prayer everyday!

2. Soak Continually in the Word of God

In a pursuit of a revelation from God, we need a standard to adhere to, lest we believe anything and everything that comes your way, and end up getting deceived. It is essential that we soak our mind in the word of God, so that the Holy Spirit can use the scriptures to reveal God’s heart to us.

Psalm 119:105 (NLT)
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

May this be on your mind continually. Do not stray from the path of God’s word to pursue vain fantasies or ridiculous theories in the name of revelations.

3. Meditate on Godly Things Continually

Here’s a word of advice from Apostle Paul, Philippians 4:8 (NLT) “…Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

When we do so, we’ll see how our meditation on things that are good yield results and revelations that last for a lifetime. It should be a principle our minds should get trained to follow-to continually meditate and ponder on things from above.

4. Submit Yourself to Leaders Who Have a Greater Revelation of God

We see in the Old Testament how Joshua submitted under the authority of Moses all through the years in the wilderness. And when it was time, God spoke to Joshua directly! His humility to remain under Moses’ leadership qualified him for a revelation from God, as opposed to Miriam and Aaron who had failed to yield to Moses’ authority.

There is a blessing and honor that flows into your life through submission, and inheritance of a part of every thing that your leader has experienced.

5. Obey and Abide in the Revelation You Have Already Received

The one reason God often stops revealing Himself more to a person is because he/she hasn’t submitted and lived in the revelation that he/she has previously received. That was the reason why the Holy Spirit departed from Saul, as also the reason why Samuel refused to see Saul ever again after he disobeyed God.

Is there anything that God expects you to do through His prior revelations to you, which you have been procrastinating? Inspect the history of your walk with God. Oftentimes, the cause for his silence is our disobedience!

Did this post speak to you? Have you been hindered in your communion with God or in receiving a personal revelation from him? If yes, what helped you? Please share with us in the comments below.

The influence of movies

Videos and movies are much, much more influential than newspapers and magazines, unlike the years gone by. So many movies are released week upon week, of different styles, genres, languages and for all ages. People from all walks of life enjoy movies. Th latest movie song soon become the new anthems, the best action stunts are dissected and discussed, and the infamous dialogs turn into mother tongue now!

Learning from movies

As much as a person might criticise it, we have to accept that watching movies do bring with it a lot of plus points. The greatest plus point about movies is that it makes you look at life from a perspective different from one’s own. Good movies, to a great extent, have the capacity to evoke love and passion, inspire heroics and unselfish behavior, and bring home lives and cultures of people from all walks of life.

The harm it causes

That being said, the kind of harm movies cause on the mind is not ignorable either. Casual sexual relationships are on the rise as is celebrated in the movies and by movie stars today. Violence and brutality is on the rise simultaneously. And the thing that harms is that Christians have begun to adopt the culture of the movie world. It so easily desensitizes us of the pain and suffering in the world. Hence it is highly recommended to screen the movies you watch, and hold on to whatever is good and pure.

Overdoing movies

In our day and age when movies are an effortless entertainment and in plenty, getting addicted to them is easier than ever before. That is a danger a Christian has to run away from. Personally for me, it was an addiction once upon a time. Now with much disciplining have I been able to take control over it. Addiction to movies can corrupt your thinking and paralyze your efficiency, because your world becomes a virtual one. Above all, guard your time. Let nothing snatch the precious time out of your hands in a highly unproductive fashion.

Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.