Dear Father, In the account of David and Uriah's wife, we often speak about David's lust and abuse of power, but rarely do we discuss Uriah's undiscerning faithfulness. The Scripture says, "David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah saying, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.'" Without intending to question Uriah's loyalty to his king, I am still troubled by the fact that the instruction that ended his life was carried by his very own hands. Perhaps he had every reason to trust the king, and this was what he received in return?! His story, however, leaves me with a broader question: How faithful is too faithful? How often have we witnessed people being betrayed, or even killed, by those they trusted most? Should we blame the wickedness of one or the innocence of the other? Experiences like this reminds me that faithfulness should be unwavering, but not unguarded, because wicked devices do not announce themselves with bells loud enough for us to recognize betrayal before it arrives. Where, then, should we draw the line between faithfulness and vigilance? I suppose this is where discernment comes in. Where we train our spirits to perceive the hearts of men so that we do not become so fearful that we cannot trust or so trusting that we become victims of evil. Learning to recognize the gentle nudge, timely instruction, and quiet warning of Your Spirit-- the perfect guard over our innocence. How often do we invest in developing spiritual discernment? Translations; Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #discernment #faithfulness #innocence #Uriahsstory

Dear Father, I have questions regarding the miracles You performed when You brought the Israelites out of Egypt. The Scripture says, "You brought Your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm..." Yet, even after all of this, they struggled to sustain a relationship with You. Why? How could a people who witnessed such great signs still find commitment difficult? Even today, we come across thousands, perhaps millions of miracles You have performed in the lives of people who now believe, yet still struggle to commit themselves fully to You. While believing makes a relationship with You possible, intimacy with You requires more than belief. Much like our closest relationships, where love is not sustained by confession alone but longs for expression. Yet, in subtler ways than we realize, we have allowed our belief to occupy the seat of our commitment. We are tongue-speaking believers, fully aware that You are able to lead us through the sea on dry ground, yet subconsciously we navigate life as though we do not need You. The enemy does not only fight our belief, he also fights our commitment. We often become content with being counted among believers while overlooking the lifestyle that belief was meant to produce, as though the name alone fulfills the calling. Father, help us examine whether our commitment is a worthy reflection of the beliefs we profess. Translations: Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LettertoGod #intimacy #beliefs #miracles #commitment

Dear Father, There is something peculiar about how a person's burden has a way of isolating them from the rest of the world. What surprises me is that even Jesus, in the very season when He needed His closest friends most, found Himself without the support of any man. The Scripture says, "Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me... Afterward he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" They pledged to die with Him, and all He requested was that they pray with Him at the defining and most agonizing moment of His life. Instead, He found them asleep. I wonder what measure of loneliness and disappointment lay behind the words, "Could you not watch with Me one hour?" Sadly, this experience is not unique to Jesus. Although He was vocal in expressing His emotions, we have yet to pay attention to those moments of loneliness and betrayal that often go unnoticed. What do we do when, in a defining moment, the presence of people around us bears no more weight than numbers that can be counted? Surrounded, yet isolated! How do we navigate difficult seasons when no one seems to understand our language, and help seems no more than a friend in deep sleep? Jesus communicated His pain, asked for help, and then He did something noteworthy: He prayed. Perhaps this can be translated to mean: when no one understands the language of my burden, You do. Translations: Slide 1: English Slide 2: French Slide 3: Bengali Slide 4: Hindu Slide 5: Urdu #LetterstoGod #seasons #Loneliness #tryingtimes #help

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