O Jesus heal the sick and the weak

O Jesus, I confess that you the world’s Saviour,
Pardon me for all my bad behaviour.
Give me the grace as I pray,
And let me not go astray.

O Jesus, heal the sick and the weak,
Save them from situations bleak.
They need your healing and grace,
Hide not from us your Holy Face.

O Jesus, heal the sick and suffering,
For I believe in your Divine offering.
You gave for us Your life on the Cross,
That we be saved from a fate that is gross.

O Jesus, I know that you will heal,
For the Father loves us with full zeal.
Have mercy for those I have come to you to pray,
Give them healing before they despair and fray.

O Jesus, you raised the people from the dead,
And you have crushed down the Serpent’s head.
Work your grace for the sick and weak,
That they with gratitude your praises speak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

I pray to Christ for your healing

I pray to Christ for your healing,
So you’d be made whole in your feeling.
I pray to Christ for your healing,
So your pleas go beyond the ceiling

I pray to Christ for your healing,
That with repentance you’re dealing
I pray to Christ for your healing,
That you confess to God without concealing.

I pray to Christ for your healing,
So that at Church worship bells be pealing.
I pray to Christ for your healing,
So no longer in darkness you’re reeling.

I pray to Christ for your healing,
That none ever this be stealing.
I pray to Christ for your healing,
That in restful adoration you be kneeling.

Be 100 percent holy for the Lord

Don’t be stuck at 1% nor 99% of holiness. Why? Because it’s not one bit holy really! Be 100 percent holy for the Lord. Do this because:
•Being holy gives glory to God.
•Being holy is consistent with Christian living.
•So that your good deeds serve an example to all people including evildoers.
•So that you prevail against evil in the war in against your soul.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

If there is a man, serving the Lord, helping the poor, and studying the word, and this man is only stealing a small about of money from work every week, he is in danger of hellfire. If there is a lady, serving in the church, leading people to Christ, and sponsoring missionaries, and this lady continues to cheat with only one adulterous partner, she is in danger of hellfire. You should not have any hope that Jesus might break His Word.

Keep the flesh crucified

Let your life be holy and dignified,
And always keep the flesh crucified.
The flesh has desires evil and profane,
So from such things you refrain.

Cut off from yourself all deceit,
Lest you suffer eternal defeat.
For many avoid the path that is narrow,
Stiff necked to the end like Pharaoh.

Crucify your flesh which yearns to sin,
So in righteousness you really win.
Remain pleasing always to the Spirit of God,
By each moment giving to the Gospel your nod.

Put to death all sinful passions,
Keep out from all insidious fashions.
For a child of the light must be pure,
And forever in God’s will must endure.

Every person can be identified by their fruits

⁴³ “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴ for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)

Every person can identified as to what they really stand for by observing their words and actions too. Inward thoughts of a person eventually show up in the way they behave sooner or later. A person who fakes his love for classical music can try to hide his intentions. But when someone asks him about Mozart or Beethoven being the latest new entrants to rap music, he might not know what to do. He might actually say yes he even heard a few of the rap concerts. That’s exactly when he can be told that these men were of the past centuries and actually had more to do with classical music than anything else. A person genuinely interested in classical music will not need to be told much. He will by himself research classical music, try to sing or play the notes on his musical instruments etc.

My point is; genuine actions follow the genuine intentions of the heart and false actions follow the false intentions of the heart. The Lord God is the greatest expert in knowing who is right and who is almost right and who is entirely wrong. He has established wisdom and counsel from of old and knows how to render to each one as per their works.

⁵ The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.⁶ The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them. (Proverbs 12:5-6)

²² Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. (Proverbs 12:22)

The Holy Scriptures should be our standard by which we examine ourselves first and even others later on. Anyone willing to be humble enough to read, pray and accept the Word of God, should not find its standards too difficult to follow. We simply observe our actions and thoughts and correct them if wrong. And we continue with them if they are acceptable to the Lord. While for others and their thoughts and actions, we can be on guard from being influenced by them or correct them.

 

Related articles

• Nothing Going Right?
• He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear

The fallacy of sympathy votes

Votes are taken not just in a democracy. You also have them in socialism, classrooms, trade unions, sports governing bodies etc. This is done to select a main leader or a set of leaders. Generally voting involves assessing the strengths and the merits of the people standing up for the election. But not always.

Sympathy Vote (definition): an ​occasion when a lot of ​people ​vote for or ​support a ​particular ​person because he or she has ​suffered ​recently.(source: dictionary.cambridge.org)

There are people in various walks of life who end up giving Sympathy votes to a candidate just because the other candidate who was contesting the elections against him or her ended up using insulting language against him or her. This is a very foolish practice and let me explain why.

Such people believe that they are punishing the abusive candidate by electing the non abusive candidate instead. This is where the overzealous ‘do not judge’ folks are surprisingly silent about such things. Why not leave the punishment to God instead? And also if you want to ‘punish’ the abusive candidate why not ask from his or her disqualification from the election? Isn’t that more ethical?

The fallacy of the Sympathy Vote is that a person who previously had little or no merit to win the votes, suddenly obtains votes which he or she was not going to get under normal circumstances. Such a person doesn’t even need to promise development or anything good for the people who vote. All they need to do is play the victim card well.

Then after they get to power by virtue of being elected, they may turn to be even worse than the abusive candidate. And the people act shocked as to how did that come to happen. I’ll say it’s because they never bothered to check if the person whom they elected is fit to perform the job or receive the honour that they are supposed to. I still maintain the candidate who tricked the people by putting on a nice initial behaviour is totally responsible for his or her actions later on.

However, I don’t entirely put the blame on such a Sympathy Vote candidate. I’d blame the people who selected him or her even more. No where in the Word of God are the people told to give up their discernment (checking things up) for what so ever reason, which includes the occasions where Sympathy Votes are solicited.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1-3)

The above Bible verses are not just talking about evil spirits alone. These also point out that the human spirit too needs to be tested. So why not discern as to which man or woman is God sent and which ones are not? It’ll save you a lot of trouble and effort if you select the right person at the right time. Do not be a simpleton! But rather be prudent in all you do.

The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. (Proverbs 14:15)

Though the Sympathy Vote is seen more in a political context, I’d say that is not the only arena of life to be careful about. Often in the religious world (or let me use the term ‘the Christian world), there are instances of Sympathy Votes. I don’t know where, when or how you may have to use such discernment in the religious world but when and if you do, remember that Bible doesn’t encourage Sympathy Votes.

I myself have to come to know of one such instance in a Christian circle, where there was an election of a high ranking clergy person among various contenders. Just because it went down to the final two and both of them were in strong contention to win, one of them despite being over forty years old, end up using the most disgusting language to belittle the other candidate. Immediately, the next time the lots were cast, the candidate who was insulted won the high rank and the abusive candidate when sent away to a far away place, another continent!

In due course of time, this pleasant mannered person who won the religious elections discreetly stole from the church funds and later on also started using profane language. So as a result after a few years that person was relieved of the high rank in the church structure. (On a side note, I now realize that just because someone has grown in age doesn’t necessarily mean they grow in manners too). If that election were happen now with the same two candidates it would be best to cancel the election and wait it out till things settle down instead of selecting ‘the lesser of two evils’ on the spur of the moment.

 

 

 

And, to set the record straight, the Bible never ever tells us to choose ‘the lesser of two evils’. If fact if you choose the lesser of two evils you are still choosing evil. Avoid the Sympathy Vote and live well!

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. (Revelation 2:2)

 

Related Articles:

Some people seem to read only the words ‘Judge not’ in the Bible

Do not judge by appearances

Do not judge or do not repent?

Blind tolerance is foolishness

Quick reminder: Examine yourself in Christ

Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! (Lamentations 3:40)

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. (2 Corinthians 13:5-7)

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. (Galatians 6: 3-5)