Editor’s Note

I greet you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have come to the last month in this year. This is a month we all look forward to; it’s a month of rejoicing and joy as we celebrate the first advent of Jesus Christ into this world.

Matthew 1:1 – The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Jesus Christ is not only the generation of Abraham, but the Son of David also.

The angel of the Lord prophesied of Jesus’ birth in Luke 1:32-33 – He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

Many in need of their problems to be met, called on Jesus as the Son of David. 

The Jews also knew that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David. Matthew 9:27-30- And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed Him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to Him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.

Seeing the miracles and signs that Jesus performed they were surprised and said inMatthew 12:23 – And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David? Even a non-Jewish woman came to Jesus and called Him the Son of David by revelation. Matthew 15:22 – And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

When Jesus was coming with a great multitude of people to Jerusalem, many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes which went before and those who followed cried out saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

Why is Jesus called the Son of David? King David desired to build a temple for the Lord; the Lord was well pleased with this and made a covenant with David that He would build a house for him and that his throne would endure forever.

Then King David thanked the Lord and said; “Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue before you forever, for you have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.”

Jesus began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph.

Jesus was not the son of Joseph, but was conceived by the Holy Spirit. John 3:6 -That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

To take care of Jesus’ earthly needs, Joseph was given as an earthly father. This mystery, the common people do not understand.

Hence, all marveled at the gracious words which proceeded from the mouth of Jesus. Luke 4:22 – And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

Phillip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Many people were offended knowing Jesus was the son of Joseph and the Jews started murmuring. John 6:42 – And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that He saith, I came down from heaven? Mark 6:3 – Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judas, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.

Yes, the Lord prepared a place for Jesus in Mary’s womb in a marvelous and wonderful way. And the angel said to Mary “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”

Since Jesus is called the Son of the Highest, He has brought for us the highest blessings.

For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son for us… For unto us a child was born, unto us a child was given. Hence we can celebrate Christmas greatly and wish each other in the name of the Most High.

I wish all my readers and members of the Rose of Sharon Church a very happy and Blessed Christmas.

Pastor Saroja M.

My first testimony: I want to thank Lord Jesus for the wonderful work He has done in my life. I have been suffering from piles problem for the last 15 years. I have been attending the Rose of Sharon Church fasting prayers continuously. I praise and thank God for healing me of my piles problem of 15 years. I am totally healed now. I want to thank Pastor Saroja for praying for my piles and thank Jesus for healing me.

Second testimony: For the last 2 months I was suffering from a bad cough. I kept this request in the fasting prayer. Now I am healed completely. I thank and praise God for healing me and also thank Pastor Saroja for her prayers for me.

 Praise the Lord!

Sis. Taraben, Kalgaon 

I thank my heavenly Father for this loving kindness to me.

Last month I was suffering from high fever and I was admitted to hospital. All tests, including sonography was done. I requested Pastor Saroja for her prayers that all my reports come out clear. Pastor prayed for me and all my reports are normal and I am now healed completely.

All glory to Lord Jesus Christ for healing me. I also thank Pastor Saroja for praying for me.

 Praise the Lord !

Sis Bhavna Hemant, Kalgaon

God is good all the time! Once again the Lord has proved that impossible situations can be made possible with the Lord Jesus on our side.

There were so many hindrances in filling / submitting Shawn’s HSC examination form and the evil one tried his best to stop it from happening. But the Lord did a mighty work and though the date was over, Shawn’s examination form was submitted.

This was only possible by the Lord’s grace, mercy and love upon Shawn. Thank you Jesus!

 Praise the Lord!

Sis. Padma Jaykanth, Kalina

More than six months ago I had requested Pastor Saroja to keep me in prayer, for me to secure a rickshaw permit. The permit is on my son Pramod’s name but he was not in Mumbai and his presence may have been required.

I wish to testify that the Lord heard his daughter’s prayers and answered it and I got a permit to buy a rickshaw with no issue, though my son was not present. God is good and I give Him all glory and honour for this miracle.

I also thank Pastor Saroja for her earnest prayers.

 Praise the Lord!

Bro. Subramani Pilley, Jogeshwari (East)

I take this opportunity to thank Lord Jesus for His goodness in my life.

I had gone to my hometown where I suffered from boils on my right heels. It was very painful and I also had lots of itching all the time. I neglected the same and thought it was normal. But when I returned to Mumbai it spread all over my heel. Then on the following Saturday I mentioned this problem to Pastor Saroja and she prayed over me. Within a week all the boils had dried up and the itching sensation stopped.

I praise and thank you God for healing me and also thank Pastor Saroja for praying for me. I thank you Jesus & praise the Lord!

Bro Devdas Jayseelan, Jogeshwari (East)

Praise the Lord!

I thank my Lord Jesus for giving me one more opportunity to testify His mighty works in my life.

In the 2^nd week of September I was having terrible pain in my chest and my back. I immediately applied the prayer oil on my chest and back. After applying the prayer oil I was completely healed of the pain.

I give all glory and thanks to my Lord Jesus for healing me. I also thank Pastor Saroja for praying for the prayer oil.

Sis Damayanthi Patel, Mira Road

Mountain Moving Faith

A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smokies built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary.

Unfortunately, the church with its undersized parking lot had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard.

Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had “mountain-moving faith”. They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.

At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation’s 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At ten o’clock the pastor said the final “Amen”. “We’ll open next Sunday as scheduled,” he assured everyone. “God has never let us down before, and I believe He will be faithful this time too.”

The next morning as he was working in his study there came a loud knock at his door. When he called “come in”, a rough looking construction foreman appeared, removing his hard hat as he entered.

“Excuse me, Reverend. I’m from Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We’re building a huge new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We’ll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, if we can have it right away. We can’t do anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly.”

The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with “Mountain-Moving Faith” on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week! Praise the Lord.

Pastor Saroja M.

Immanuel – God is with us!

Mathew 1: 23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Let us also read Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” People waited 4000 years for the birth of Jesus Christ on this earth. Jesus Christ came into this world in a physical form and the ‘Word’ was brought into this world, through Him. Thus what God the Father promised to the people of this world 4000 years ago came into this world with the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ brought blessings and happiness into this world because in His name were hidden many qualities viz. Messiah, Jesus, Redeemer etc. In different ways, the people of this world were blessed through His mighty name. Above all this, the name Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’ is the biggest promise to all mankind. The name Immanuel brings into our lives many blessings, it brings His grace, mercy, love and shadow upon us. When Lord Jesus is with us no Pharisee or Sadducee can point a finger at us. Thus when Immanuel is in the midst of the people, they were confident because of this greatest blessing in their life. Joshua 1:5 “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

The meaning of Immanuel is ‘God with us’, thus as God promised Joshua that how He was with Moses, so will He also be with him, similarly the same Lord is also with us; He will not fail nor forsake us.

Mathew 28:20 “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

When God is with us, He promises us that He will be us till the end of the world. The name Immanuel is thus a blessed name given to us. Let us now see God’s blessing for Abraham when he obeyed Him. Genesis 22:16–18 “And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

God was with Abraham always. Abraham too was obedient to God’s every word, because of which we see this great blessing came into Abraham’s life. Thus our God’s name Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’ brings blessings in each of our lives too. God’s promises hold good till the end of the world and for generations to come.

God also blessed Isaac and prospered the seeds that he sowed a hundred times more. Why was Isaac prospered? Because GodImmanuel was with him. Isaac sowed the seed and God blessed and prospered it. Genesis 26:24-28 “And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

”Here we see that because God was with Isaac, he was blessed. Even his friends and family united with him because they too heard that God was with Isaac. Our God gives us such confidence in our life by saying ‘God is with us’. Thus, when God is with us, we too can receive such blessings from God. When God is with His people, they become a blessed people. Their lives become a life of testimony and people around them can see and say to them “We are sure God is with you”. Yes, God has promised us that He will be with us till the end of the world. Let us also see Jacob’s life in Genesis 28:15 “And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. ”Here we see how God the Father has accomplished every word that He has promised and made the way to happiness in Jacob’s life. The same God also promises us that He, Immanuel, will be with us till the end of the world. God blessed Abraham differently, Isaac differently and blessed Jacob’s life differently. God works in our lives too, in different ways. Each of us needs God’s blessings in a different way. Some need to be humble; some will have other desires, love for God. Remember, God works differently in different lives, thus when God is with us, our victory too will come from Him alone.

Now we will see Joseph’s life in reference to Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’. Whatever our lives we will get victory in all that we do when we believe that ‘God is with us’. Genesis 39:23 “The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.”We must have unity and oneness in everything we do for the Lord. When we read the different books of the bible in Genesis, Exodus, Samuel, Chronicle, where people go to war; some of them think of their family, some of their flock, some of their wealth. When they lose the war God tells them that “those whose heart is upon their family, flock and wealth cannot go to war”. Thus the Israelites lose their war. Even today, our life is the same. If there is no oneness and unity in our life, we will fail the test of life. The evil one chooses the weak to bring down the congregation even in a church. Thus we must always have unity and oneness within us to win the war of life. Even in our life there will be wars that we need to fight and overcome and gain victory. The birth of Jesus Christ in this world was a great warfare that had to be fought by God the Father. How much the evil one tried not to allow the birth of Christ Jesus on this earth, but the birth of Jesus was the inevitable truth; and Jesus had to be born on this earth to save mankind. He was born in a manger with animals. In spite of His birth in a manger, Jesus fulfilled all that He was sent to do into this world and He conquered the world. We too have to become humble for the Lord, the more we become humble, the more blessings we shall reap. Genesis 39:23 “The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

” The God who promised “I am with you”, the very same God gave him victory in every situation and every work of his hand. When God is not with us and when His grace is not upon us, no works of ours will reap any gain. God promised Abraham that his generations will be like stars in the sky, God fulfilled this promise in Abraham’s life. God was with Isaac, thus he reaped a hundred times what he sowed. Jacob was blessed by God, thus he returned to the land which God brought him. Joseph in spite of being imprisoned, God blessed every work of his hand and brought him prosperity and victory. Joseph was thus made the chief of that place. Remember when God is with us, we will get victory in all our trials. Imagine if God was not with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph… what would have happened in their lives? It is thus important for us to recognize Immanuel in our lives too. How can we accept Him and keep Him with us? How can we be blessed through Him? It is very important for us to know Immanuel and be entwined with Him.

Let us see how David reaped blessings from GodPsalms 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” David always kept God before him in everything he did and said. God was always at his right side and thus God blessed him. When God is on our right side, can anything go wrong in our lives? No! We may be great people, we may be highly qualified, we may be men/women of wisdom, but when God is not with us we will be put to shame. Imagine if God was not with all these people, what would their lives have been? Because God was with them, they are living through the ‘Word’ even after thousands of years. Because they kept God before them, because they kept God at their right hand, even after their death they are living through the Word. But our lives are worthless for though we live today we are dead! We do not know how to keep our God happy and how to maintain our relationship with Him. Our God says “I will never forsake you”, thus it is we who forsake God. We are great sinners in our thoughts, words and deeds; in many different ways we let our God down. Unlike us, David always kept God by his right side and before Him; firm in the Lord in every war and in every difficulty of his life, he never wavered in His relationship with God. Psalms 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”God who promised to be with us is with us in every situation of our life. We have also seen in Job’s life how God was always with him and his family because of which they were blessed and happy. But one day, God separated himself from Job and at that time we see how the evil one captured Job’s life that was filled with blessings and robbed him of everything. But Job knew that His God would never let him down. In the end God not only restored all that was lost in Job’s life but He restored it in double measure. We must remember that God never forsakes us; it is we who forsake Him. Job’s wife criticized him and told him “Curse your God and die if you must” but even then Job in all humility said “Foolish woman, do we only have to accept God’s blessings? Sometimes we also need to be corrected and take his punishment in our life”. Job knew that God, who has promised to be with him till the end of this world, will never forsake him. In the end, we have seen that God restored more than before in Job’s life and blessed him with the most beautiful daughters in this world. Even today God tells us “I will be with you till the end of this world”. In the midst of this promise the evil one can bring sufferings into our lives as he did in Job’s life. But we need to stand strong and firm for the Lord, because our Lord alone can bring victory in our lives.

In Abraham’s life the evil one troubled him through his nephew Lot, but since Abraham was strong in the Lord, the Lord restored everything in his life. Even today the evil troubles us through our family, friends, relatives, and also the congregation. The fault is not yours or ours, the evil has forgotten that he was defeated at the Cross. Like David, we should always remember that “The right hand of God is upon us and God is before us, thus we will not be moved”. When we travel to Bhilad for Sunday service, the evil one cuts the power supply on most Sundays. But not on a single Sunday did the service stop nor

was discontinued. God always gave us victory over the evil one’s plan. This happened several times, however nowadays the power cut is a little less. Thus we have always had victory in God’s name. Another testimony is of the Christmas program which was held on Dec 23^rd where all our youth and married couples went ahead and started arranging things in the hall. However no one informed me that the stage was not put up. I casually asked brother Ramiah how the hall was looking and how was the stage? At that time, brother informed me that there was no stage. I immediately called the decorator and informed him to put the stage up. The decorator apologized as he had forgotten the date and thought it was required for Dec 24^th. Even in this, God gave us victory and the evil plan was defeated from putting us to shame. Remember when God is not with us we will forever be shaken or confused. We will be saddened and put to shame. But when God is with us, we will always have victory in our life because God Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’ has promised that He will be with us always.

Job 42:10 “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Who restored back everything in Job’s life? God restored back to Job twice as much as he had before. Here God shows the evil one how he can bless His people. The evil one always knows that when he robs God’s people of something, God will restore it in double measure. But for this, we must remember that we need to pass the test of God to be restored in this manner. It is not only during Christmas that these blessings come alive, but it holds well during our entire life time. Let us read Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” Lord promises us that He will be with us through the waters of the rivers and through the fire; we will not be drowned nor burned. We know how when the tsunami happened in Dec 2004, it destroyed thousands of lives on this earth. Many people disappeared from the world. Similar incidents can happen once again in our life time. Thus says the bible ‘Two people will be there, one will be taken away’. The one who believes in God will be taken away and the other with whom God is not there will be left back to suffer the hell fire. Thus, it is important for us to maintain our relationship with God. God’s promise for us is that ‘I am with you till the end of the world’. It is we who forsake Him. Those who seek God will find Him and those who find Him will lose Him. God’s Word must be etched across our hearts, the name ‘Immanuel’ meaning ‘God with us’ must remain with us always.

Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.” God’s Word is true and alive. This is the promise of God for us. We must claim this promise always and pray. Lord who promised us “that His kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of His peace be removed, the Lord will have mercy on thee”. God will never let us down. He has loved us and was sent into this world for you and me.Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ”Lord says to us ‘Fear not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my right hand of Righteousness’. God has promised us this that He will save us and uphold us always. Thus when He left His Heavenly Kingdom and was sent into this world for your sake and my sake, He came willingly to do His Father’s will on this earth. Till the end He was firm and on the Cross He fulfilled His Father’s wish. Even today, He continues to be with us and thus we should not be shaken. In fear, we sin a lot and we say a lot of wrong things. In fear Peter denied Jesus thrice. Fear brings about a lot of loose talk resulting in sin. The Lord tells us ‘Do not fear, I am with you and don’t forget I am with you always, I will uphold thee with the right hand of righteousness. I am the way to save you, there is no other way, hence my Father God has sent me into this world’. In fear, Peter started sinking in the sea. When in fear don’t forget God’s promise for you. Who can snatch us from the ‘right hand of God’? The evil one will always keep us in fear and try to make us forget God’s help in our life.

God ‘Immanuel’ – what is the reason of Him coming into this world? To lift us high above all. Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” The place Bethlehem Ephratah was a little known place among the thousands of Judah. No one used to visit this village, but with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem Ephratah, this place was glorified amongst all nations. There was light in this place and the songs of Hallelujah were heard in this village. Till then no one bothered of this place or knew of this place. Similarly our lives may also be such that it appears to be a worthless life, but since Immanuel came into our lives and since God is with us, people happen to know us and started recognizing us. God’s desire for every human being is to live a life such as this. He wants us to make our life blessed as Bethlehem Ephratah. He wants to change our lives and make a worthless life worthy and precious. The other name for Bethlehem is also known as ‘The House of Bread’. Genesis 29:35 “And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.”Another meaning of Bethlehem & Judah is to ‘glorify God’. By having Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’, ‘He is at our right hand’, ‘God be glorified’ what does all this mean? John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Remember, when God is not with us, we can do nothing. It is only when God is with us that we can live a fruitful life. To make our life fruitful, God became Immanuel and was born for our sakes. Jesus says “I have come to make your life fruitful because God sent me into this world. If you live entwined with me you will be very fruitful in your life. Without me you can do nothing.”This is a very powerful statement. If we remember this it is enough to make our life fruitful. It is we who do not understand the depth of the meaning of ‘Immanuel’. Why did God send his only son Jesus into this world? Why did He name Him ‘Immanuel’? God speaks to us in different ways saying “When I am entwined with you, you will be blessed. You can do all things with me. I can lift you up higher and higher”. This is the whole purpose of God coming into this world for us. Those of us who have ‘God with us’ can live our lives fruitfully. When God is with us, we can do things beyond the imagination of man. But when God is not with us, we can do nothing. Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” The evil comes to rob many of the fruit of the Spirit viz. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Thus, when God blesses us with all the fruit of the Spirit, no man can take it away. Many families have everything that this world can offer, but there is no love, joy, peace in their lives. Remember the promised word in Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.”Our lives can be blessed like the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and Job. We may know the Bible thoroughly, but if God is not with us then there is no fruit within us.Because of the grace of God alone, today I can teach the word of God more effectively than those who have studied the bible for years and those from Bible College. When God is with us, we will never be moved or shaken. David says “I was small and now I have grown old, but I have never seen God’s people beg”. God will never bring down His people to stoop so low. Every word in the bible is the word given for you and me and hence we must keep this Word close to our hearts. When we keep Lord God with us we will never be shaken or moved in our lives. We know that King David was born in Bethlehem, then Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, so also Samuel was born in Bethlehem. Let us read the word where God asks Samuel to anoint David as the King of Bethlehem.

1 Samuel 16:1 “And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.“.Our God has chosen you and me just to become a Priest, a King and His people. This is the reason God was sent into this world – to make us Priests, Kings and His congregation.Revelation 1:6 “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”Why did Jesus wash us with His precious blood and anoint us as priests and Kings? So that we can spread the good news that “God is with us”. Jesus Christ makes us stand before God the Father as priests and Kings and proclaims that we are chosen to spread His good news’. We should never think that God is not with us, but instead feel Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’. We should proclaim His promise always as in Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.” When there was no one to remember David, God remembered this shepherd boy and chose him to rule Israel. 1 Samuel 16:13 “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.” Thus Samuel anointed David before his family and the Spirit of the Lord stayed upon David. We too may be small and insignificant but remember God is watching upon us and as God chose David to be the King of Israel, we will also be chosen by God one day.

2 Corinthians 8:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, yet He became poor for our sakes and through His poverty we became rich. Likewise we can also change other rich lives through the poverty of Jesus Christ. We must remember, our rich God came into this world poor and thus we become blessed. Mathew 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” Lord Jesus Christ has given His life for us and thus washed us with His precious blood. Jeremiah 1:19 “And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.”Wars happen every day in our lives and in different ways we have to fight our own war. But they will never prevail against us, since God is with us to give us victory. This is the meaning of Immanuel – ‘God with us’. In different ways God shows us there are different kinds of wars; every family has to fight their own wars and battles. But God will give us victory through all these wars, for if we do not fight wars then we will be like the other people. Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”Today, God reminds us of the promise that He has given for generations to come. Once again God is speaking to us through His Word, that when He is with us we can win victory in our lives i.e. when Immanuel – ‘God is with us’ is with us, victory is ours. Truly our God is a mighty God and His promises for us are mighty. God has mercy upon us and it is through His blood He has made us worthy to call God the Father Abba Father. Colossians 1:14 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”Through the blood of Jesus alone we are redeemed and receive forgiveness for our sins. 2Corinthians 6:16 “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”God who came in the form of Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’ says that “We are the temple of the living God and that I will dwell in You, walk with you, and be your God and you shall be my people”. The Spirit of God brings boldness in our lives and takes away fear from our lives. We should shun fear from our lives. Remember, the evil one will finish us if we continue to live in his fear. We need to challenge the evil one once again. God’s promise for us once again is that ‘We are the temple of the living God’. Let us rebuke the evil one with the promise that God has given, His son Jesus Christ Immanuel meaning ‘God with us’.

May this message bring blessings into every life that reads this message and holds God’s promise truly!