Spiritual DNA

Have you ever asked yourself if your spirit carried a DNA, whose DNA would it be carrying?

The more I look around, the more I realize how broken our world is. It is saddening to see the effects of what we as God’s most glorious creation leave behind. It is saddening to see all the evil going on in the world, in our own neighborhoods and perhaps our own families. It is saddening to see that following Jesus is irrelevant to the world and being kind and humble is not a characteristic that people look for anymore and if you are kind, and a person who loves the way Jesus loved, then you are nothing but a weirdo!!!

Perhaps it is time for the Christians around the world to not compromise and be more like Jesus. Perhaps it is time for us to take action and love our enemies, instead of repaying evil by evil. Perhaps it is time to actually follow the the message we have been given by God and to be a light. What would the world be like if everyone was humble? If every one was loving and kind? If everyone sought to be morally pure?

I guess we will only know the answer through those who really are in Christ and are allowing Him everyday and allowing Him to transform them daily to what He created us to be. We were created to be holy! Created in God’s image. How awesome to thing that we carry the DNA of our creator. The DNA of the Father whom is full of love and forgiveness.

 

1 John 1:5-10

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

Who do you Follow?

Lately I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be follower. Adam was created to follow God and have communion with him, but after sin entered the world, things started changing quickly and after some years, man’s focus was taken away from the ONE whom he was supposed to follow.

If you have noticed, people have a tendency to imitate the ones they follow. For example, if you look at children, you will notice that they often imitate their favorite movie or cartoon character, or they imitate their favorite, actor, singer, or athlete. Adults are pretty much the same way; they imitate the ones whom they follow. The Bible indicates that this world belongs to Satan and those who follow this world are actually imitating Satan.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 2:1-2)

God wants us to imitate him in everything that we do and be his followers.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12)

How much of a more beautiful the world would be if we imitated Jesus and lived like him. At some point in our lives we have to examine our hearts and see who it is that we truly follow.

God is Holy

In the past few weeks I have been studying about God’s holiness. I used to think that I know what holy means, but as I keep digging deeper, I realize that I don’t know much about what holy really means and furthermore, how holy God is.

One of the meanings of holy is “to be separated from evil”. We know there is no evil in God, but God also calls us to be holy just like him.

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.. “Leviticus 20:26”

I find it hard to be holy because I know there is evil in me, but at the same time I know that God’s sacrifice on the cross has freed me and has given me an opportunity to walk towards the path of holiness. I know I can be with Him for eternity and enjoy His holy presence. I love the fact that I worship a God who is against everything evil or in a other words against everything that can hurt me.

What is your true face?

One of my favorite Farsi songs translates as follows: 

“The stranger who has become a pain in your life is you, yourself! Sometimes the mirror lies, the face you see is not your true face.”

Do you ever look at yourself in the mirror and wonder if the face you see is your true face? Are you really the person, you pretend to be, or are you someone else? Do you ever wonder maybe the reason you are in trouble, is because of you, yourself? Do you ever wonder if you are judging other based on your own actions and in reality you are the one who needs to be judged? 

Luke 6:42

 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

What if you try something new? What if you looked at yourself in the mirror every morning and said to yourself: “I am not going to wear a random mask to cover my true self today, but instead, I want Jesus to be seen in me, I want to wear His loving face”?

I promise you that your life would be transformed.

Hungry

This week is the first week of Ramadan in Muslim countries. Ramadan is a month that Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and do not eat or drink anything. My wife and I experienced the darkest spiritual attacks in this month when we lived in Turkey. As Christians one of the best things we can do is to pray over all the Muslim countries (Specially this month) and be thankful to God for the salvation that we have because of His son Jesus.

Pray for Muslim countries. God will hear your prayers.

 

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

“… blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
   whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
   that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
   its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
   and never fails to bear fruit.”

Thorn or Flower

One the famous Persian expressions says: “From love thorns will turn into flowers.”

Translation: when you show love to those who hate and dislike you, the ugliness in you and that other person will eventually turn into something beautiful like a flower. No more  of the harmful sharp thorn, but a beautiful, good smelling flower.

It is hard to love those who hate you, but it helps us grow as individuals when we show love.

Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 5:46
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

It’s our choice to be thorns that heart others, or flowers that please others.

Burglary

This morning at around 2:00 AM I received a phone call from ADT Security regarding a burglary alarm at church. Thankfully no damage was done, and nothing was stolen. After talking to the cops and driving home at around 3:00 AM, I started thinking of the Words of Jesus in Luke 12:39-40:

“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

These are powerful words which make me wonder if I am ready for the Lord to come or not.

Busted

         For more than four years,  in a Farsi (Persian) blog I have been posting Christian materials, such as Bible studies, a downloadable Bible in Farsi, etc. The site that maintains blogging is based in Iran, and it is one out of the few, that allows blogging in Farsi transcript. Unfortunately, yesterday I noticed that they have shut down my blog. On top of shutting down the blog and deleting all the content, they have put a note on the link that translates,  “This blog has been shut down due to criminal activity and not following the Islamic Republic of Iran's laws”.

        The good news is that no one can stop God’s word from reaching into Iran, or any other country.

Philippians 2:10-11 

….at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
  and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father.

Joy, Joy, Joy

Even in our human natures, it is apparent that the joy we carry with us, can bring joy to others around us. A proof of that is the laughter of our children. Their joy gives us joy.

Below is a video of my daughter! Every time I look at it, I get filled with joy.

John 15:11
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Disliked or Hated

Have you ever felt like you are disliked or hated by someone? You try so hard for that person to like you. You go to that person with the anticipation of being liked, but it never works. You try to talk to him/her, but you receive negative comments. Your presence is like a discomfort for him/her which makes you uncomfortable with yourself.

What should you do in those times? It seems like you try, but the results are always the same. You want to give up, but in your heart you really want him/her to at least try liking you!

Well, don’t ever give up? God never gave up on you when you disliked Him. He tried hard to draw your attention to Himself, but you rejected him. Eventually though, you accepted His love. God’s love is the perfect example you need to show and follow.

The world will always hate you for following God, but deep in your heart you know that you are doing the right thing. Be strong and don’t give up trying. Don’t be afraid for being hated, but in return show love.

 

Mark 13:13

Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.