Dear Father, How do we explain a situation in which two children are raised in the same home under the same discipline, yet eventually choose two very different moral paths? Today I pondered the contrast between Elisha and Gehazi. One beheld the prophetic and longed for a double portion; the other stood in the same atmosphere and longed for silver and garments. Was there something different in the training they received, or in the way they received it. I see this reflected in the Christian walk. It is not always a matter of good versus evil, but of why those who travel the same road attain very different levels of spiritual maturity. Though it would be unreasonable to expect identical growth, it is not out of place to question great disparities in spiritual progress. Why is it that, though we begin the journey together, one person grows and bears fruit while another may stagger along the path of growth? Should we question the seed that is sown, or the manner in which it is received? I once learned something from the Parable of the Sower: every seed was good. The difference in the harvest was found not in the seed, but in the soil that received it. Perhaps, then, we should be more intentional about the atmospheres we inhabit, what we do with the graces under which we are trained, and the seeds sown into our hearts. Perhaps this also reminds us that growth is very much our responsibility and demands our deliberate participation. Perhaps we need Your grace. Father, guide my growth so that I may fulfill the destiny You have set before me. Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #growth #parableofthesower #spiritialgrowth

Dear Father, I once heard it said that when You desire something to be done on the earth, You seek a man. I also heard that Your first visit to a person is not necessarily to the one who eventually carries out the assignment. When the angel appeared to Mary to tell her about the birth of Jesus, she replied, “Be it unto me according to thy word.” I know that You weigh a person’s heart before entrusting them with a role, but what if, for instance, she had said no? This was not just an assignment; it was a disruption. Sometimes it is easier to teach obedience than to come to terms with all it entails. Greater assignments often bring greater disruptions, and submission may require more than the blessings we are taught obedience brings. It may require acknowledging that favor from heaven can appear as shame on earth-- like when a virgin is found with child. Mary had a choice, and she chose to yield. We, too, have choices. Yet the subtlety of divine assignments lies in their diversity of expression. Not all of us will be visited by angels, but none of us is without a divine calling. As a result, we must pay attention to how we respond to the assignment entrusted to us. Perhaps rejecting a calling involves more than just saying “no.” Could it be that the way we live becomes our response to that calling? What if our daily choices answer on our behalf? What if, through our daily dispositions, we say “no” with our actions while saying “yes” with our words? I may not have been the first to receive the assignment, but will I be the one who fulfills it? Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #obedience #dailyliving #purpose #assignment

Dear Father, I once felt offended after coming across a place called “Home for Motherless and Abandoned Children.” Could they not have found another name? Or do we need to build labels around the condition of children simply because we wish to convey a message? I wondered why we attach demeaning labels to the poor, and at the same time, idolize the rich. Are our values built around wealth and stability rather than humanity? Today I came across a passage that says: “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” I believe we have yet to come to terms with the vast extent to which discrimination applies. First, the mindset behind naming a place “Home for Motherless and Abandoned Children” is not entirely for the sake of recognition, as we may believe. If we were to name such places “chosen” or “great,” that is exactly how they would come to be recognized. This mindset often leaves little room for creativity in the way we serve the poor, making haphazard modes of operation seem customary. Could we not do better? Should a driver be honored less because of his financial condition? We do not seem to realize that honor is not always the mindset behind how differently we treat people, discrimination is. Should it be status that governs the way we treat others, or our humanity? #LettertoGod #humanity #labels #wealth #discrimination

Dear Father, I remember a couple of years ago when I would be sent on errands without any money to purchase groceries, while explaining to the vendor that payment would be made shortly. I would walk the streets rehearsing speeches and summoning the courage to face the vendor. I wanted to appear comfortable with an assignment I dreaded. Oh, how I hated initiating debts! Apostle Paul said: “I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.” I wondered: he owed them no money, so why did he speak of being a debtor? While some debts arise from our consumption and may instill shame in us, there are also debts that result from the need to do more than we already do. These create a burden of responsibility and are directly related to the fulfillment of our purpose. An outstanding obligation has a way of creating unrest, perhaps even more than meeting a creditor after the due date when the funds are still unavailable. Such an obligation is a blessing when we submit to its demands and fulfill it, for it becomes a disgrace if we are called upon to give what we do not have in the season that we should. I now understand Paul’s perspective in regarding himself as a debtor. Yet, in contrast, we often live as though the burden of purpose creates no unrest in us. If freedom were a bird, we would gladly soar on eagle’s wings, forgetting that an obligation awaits-- a moment when we will be required to give, whether we have prepared ourselves or not. #LettertoGod #obligation #responsibility #purpose #debtor

Dear Father, I often ponder Goliath’s boldness and audacity in challenging the army of an entire nation. He proclaimed, “Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me…” Why did he believe himself to be the strongest? Was he equating strength with size? The challenge in retelling the story of David’s victory over Goliath is that, in acknowledging the supernatural aspect of his triumph, we often pay less attention to his skill. Goliath was strong, but David stood upon two foundations: Your sustaining power and mastery of his skill. I see how often this applies in other areas of life. Mastery in a particular field can give rise to a pride that suggests a person can do no wrong. His evident results can relinquish his sense of dependence on You, as though skill alone were enough to keep him standing. The list is endless: from those who live as though You do not exist to those who know You exist, yet have achieved such great results and mastery that they no longer seek You. Whenever I encounter such people, I think also of Goliath, who believed strength was all he needed to prevail. Perhaps there is wisdom in praying as though we have not practiced and practicing as though we have not prayed. Perhaps this is the balance we are meant to keep. Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #faith #skill #mastery #strength

Dear Father, I love the Scripture that says, "And Jesus did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Although a few groups, such as the Unitarians, have questioned His divinity using this passage, arguing that if Jesus could not perform many miracles in certain places, then He must have been limited in a way that God is not. I believe this interpretation only proves they have missed the message this Scripture communicates. In several other passages throughout Scripture, before healing a person, Jesus asks, "Do you believe?" In others, He heals them by saying, "Go; your faith has made you whole." Through this, He communicated the pattern by which supernatural occurrences on earth often manifest alongside the will and belief of man. The original translation communicates nothing about His inability, but rather His restraint. He did not perform many mighty works, not because He was unable to, but because of their unbelief. This gives an answer to a question I have often asked: Why are the great supernatural occurrences recorded in Scripture not as prevalent today? I have also come across people who ask, "If God can do this, why would He not?" While on earth, Jesus was not trying to prove His divinity at all costs through the manifestation of miracles, and You surely are not doing so now. The pattern seems to be not so much that You produce signs to make us believe, but rather that our belief becomes the very atmosphere in which miracles are received. Seeing that our experiences of Your supernatural backing are often a reflection of our faith, how great, then, is our belief? Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #faith #miracles #belief #biblemisconceptions

Dear Father, A few Israelites were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, which You had promised to the children of Israel as their possession, and they returned with two different reports. The Scripture says, "And Caleb said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we... for we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." The amazing part of this Scripture is that they were faced with two contrasting opinions, even though they all knew the promise had come from You. In reality, this is often where we find ourselves: contrasting opinions, one promise. We don't talk enough about how Your promises often lead us to lands still inhabited by giants; We celebrate the inheritance, perhaps not as much as we prepare for the warfare required to take possession of it; We seldom discuss the voices-- both within and around us-- that echo the report of the ten spies, persuading us that we are like grasshoppers and the promise is beyond our reach. This is why I love how the story ends, because we were never designed to take possession of the promise all by ourselves; there is no victory without You. Perhaps we do seem like grasshoppers. Perhaps they are not entirely wrong about our limitations. But none of that changed Your mind. You saw our insufficiency before You made the promise, and You promised it anyway. Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #promise #inheritance #fulfilment #limitations

Dear Father, Absalom devised evil against his father, King David. He led a nationwide rebellion and tried to overthrow him. He slept with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel, and even went to war against him. It seems quite extraordinary that a man would go to such lengths against his own blood, and I have often sought the reasoning behind it. Something tragic transpired long before Absalom's rebellion. His own sister, Tamar, was raped by his half brother, Amnon, and the Scripture records, "Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house." King David, however, did absolutely nothing about it. The wounds of rape were not hidden in those days; they often left a woman without justice and with little hope of rebuilding her life. Day after day, Absalom would look upon the face of his sister and ponder how one avoidable act had stolen her future. Then he would think of his father, King David, and his silence over all that had transpired. Perhaps daily, his resentment grew, eventually bearing the fruit of rebellion. Why, though, was David silent about what happened between Amnon and Tamar? Perhaps his own sin of taking another man's wife, Bathsheba, and his attempt to conceal it by murdering her husband weighed heavily upon him. Why correct a man whose need for grace is no less than your own? Perhaps David was restrained by guilt. I think of how often we let our mistakes define and silence us. Unknown to us that, a hero with scars may be in the best position to guide one who has none. Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #grace #guilt #sin #rebellion

Dear Father, I read through Tamar's story again, and I noticed how one painful event led to another. After she was raped, the Scripture records that, "Tamar remained desolate..." Rape and desolation! A painful, recurring truth: evil left unchecked has a way of multiplying itself. I pondered the many situations in life where one negative occurrence automatically gives rise to another, especially when the first seems beyond our control. We come across situations where the loss of a loved one leads a person into overwhelming grief. We see failure give way to discouragement, rejection to insecurity, addiction to captivity, delay to frustration, sin to isolation, and depression to hopelessness. Perhaps we can all relate to shifting problems: what we once thought would linger for only a while has now grown beyond our control and has taken on a different name. How do we solve the new problem when we have not yet experienced victory over where it first began? How do we prevent one affliction from giving rise to another? While there are many issues listed here for which solutions cannot be offered in a single letter to You, I'd like to state the obvious. Shifting evil first thrives in ignorance. Like weeds left untended, it multiplies when left unchecked, and it prevails when we confront it without engaging in spiritual warfare. Too often, we make the recurring mistake of waiting it out, unaware of its tendency to multiply. By the time we rise to confront it, we often forget that every work of destruction begins in darkness-- and darkness is dispelled only by light. Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #light #darkness #ignorance #evil

Dear Father, It just occurred to me that the story of the woman with the issue of blood, which teaches us about faith, also teaches us about proximity. For she had said, "If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole." In several places around the world, we speak about her remarkable faith, but not as much do we speak about how this miracle took place after a touch. Today, I pondered various scenarios where proximity is an advantage in our dealings with You, and permit me the pleasure of saying that there are no instances where proximity becomes a burden rather than an advantage. In times when we need You and even when we feel self sufficient, in sickness and in health, or when we face the consequences of our sins and it seems as though You are far away, David knew better. After he had sinned greatly, he said, "I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD." I think about people who feel self sufficient and disregard the gathering of the brethren: loving You but hating church! I think of situations where our faith to receive from You does not mirror our proximity to You, or moments when the enemy convinces us that our sins are now beyond finding mercy. And I am reminded of how there is not a single case where proximity falls at a disadvantage. And I realized the device of the enemy: to steal the message of proximity and lay emphasis on self sufficiency, hurts, and our shortcomings. How can we enjoy this advantage if we do not leverage the privilege of proximity? Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #Proximity #faith #priviledge #advantages