stephen-on-bible

The last weekend, the Lord has given me the privilege to minister to the young folks in Mumbai. During the Q&A session, someone asked, “How to stay steadfast in my devotion to God?”  Don’t you suppose this is an intense struggle many of us often pass through? Enlarging Ordinary Devotions There are many who disappointedly ask, “I went to numerous seminars, camps and church meetings. I heard powerful messages, was set on fire for God and made great commitments to change. However, just after few days, the fire subsided and I returned to the same pathetic condition. I lost hope to change. How can I have my heart continuously burning for the Lord?” In fifteen years of my Christian life, after experiencing many such topsy-turvy moments, I have learned a secret, or rather a fact—the way to keep fanning our inner flame for God, the means to steadfastly maintain and enhance our spiritual fervency, is through consistent private devotions . The seventeenth-century Anglica...

Last month, a wonderful brother in the Lord gifted me a book Radical by David Platt . It is one of the few books in my life that I read in its entirety with great earnestness, even planning to read again.  As I read through the pages, I was deeply convicted and challenged to live a different life as a disciple of Christ Jesus. O, how I wished in my heart to buy as many copies of this book and give to as many Christians as possible, so that they would read and learn to live a crucified Christian life in this self-indulgent world! Well, when we look at the contemporary Christianity, don’t you suppose many of us who claim to be disciples of Christ seem to live a self-elevated rather than self-denial life, comfort zone rather than crucified life, earthly-minded rather than heavenly-focused life, world-like rather than Christ-like life and religious rather than radical Christian life? The aim of many who claim to believe in Christ appears to be this—earn a nice educational d...