By Nick Shelton

Once upon a time, there was a grasshopper who loved to show off his strong legs by jumping over the homes of his insect friends. After a long day of jumping and playing, the grasshopper would grow very hungry. But on this day, there was no food to be found because a winter storm had blanketed the ground with a thin layer of snow. Having no other options, the grasshopper went to his friend Mr. Ant and knelt down on his strong hind legs and begged his friend for some food.

The ant thought to himself, I worked all summer and fall gathering food so that our colony would have all we needed. While I was carrying food twice my weight, this grasshopper was jumping and dancing in the meadow. Why should I give him any food? Why does he deserve it?

This story is a moral question that many psychologists and social scientists have used to examine what kind of morals a person has. What would you do if you were in Mr. Ant’s shoes?

In this version of the story, Mr. Ant decided to help the grasshopper. The ant provided food that the starving grasshopper needed. The ant went out of his way, traveling several feet below the ground to retrieve stored food for the grasshopper.

“Here you go, Mr. Hopper,” said Mr. Ant.

“Thanks, but this is such a small amount of food. I’m a lot bigger than you. I need a lot more food than you.”

“I can only get this much at a time,” said Mr. Ant. “The ant who guards our food storage will only allow me to get so much extra.”

“There’s no way you can get more?”

“Well, I guess I could share the small bit of food that I’m given each day.”

For the next few days, Mr. Ant shared his small rations of food with the grasshopper. As the winter progressed, the grasshopper kept taking larger and larger food portions from the ant. Both of them were almost starving themselves to death. One day, Mr. Ant finally said, “Mr. Hopper, the lack of food has completely changed you. Your hind legs do not look like they’ll be able to jump any more. Why don’t you take all my food so you can survive until the spring.”  The selfish grasshopper took the food and enjoyed every bite.

The following day, the ant died in the snow trying to find more food for the hungry grasshopper. The ant gave his all in order that the grasshopper could live.

The ant did not have to do anything for the grasshopper – he did not deserve it. He showed him mercy. The ant did not have to give the grasshopper his own food – it was gift of gratitude. He showed him grace.

Grace and mercy are the two fundamental concepts on which Christianity is built. We are just like the grasshopper in many ways. We come seeking want we do not deserve, and we get something that we cannot obtain on our own.

We deserve punishment for all of our sins. Whether we are a murderer on death row, or a priest– we deserve hell. However, God does not leave us out in the cold, starving to death. He loves us and welcomes us into His warm embrace and invites us to His banqueting table in Heaven.

God not only cancels the debt of millions that we owe to Him, but He also gives us millions that we could never accomplish on our own. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

Ephesians 2:4

Isaiah 55:7

Romans 3:23,24

Romans 11:42

Ephesians 2:8

Hebrews 4:16

By Sidharth Mohandas

Recently I had a close friend say somethings that really hurt me. Actually there was nothing wrong in what he said, the problem was with the way I received what he said. And there sprout in my heart a root of bitterness. After sending some mails to each other, I was still filled with bitterness, a heaviness that I couldn’t describe.I was handling or analyzing his words after some time and thus fueling the bitterness with in me. I even tried justifying myself, but the heaviness just wouldn’t leave. I knew what the Spirit wanted me to do: to forgive and release. I yielded to the Holy Spirit and even as I was forgiving and releasing I had my sister shout and scream at me and say mean things for no reason. The Lord reminded me of the verse in Hebrews 12:15 that said, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root springs up to cause trouble and defile many.”. I could now clearly see the strategy of the enemy: to defile many. But the Spirit of God was there by me helping me and instructing me what to do. I just kept quiet, did what she asked me to do and came back to my room. But as I got back to my room my mind was crowded with thoughts “Shouldn’t you have given her a piece of your mind?”, “Did you let her win?”. I immediately spoke out and said, “Obedience to the Lord is all that matters. And I have seen to it that no bitter root sprout out to cause trouble” . A peace suddenly filled my heart. Previously thinking about my friend brought a bitter feeling, but now I felt absolutely free in my spirit. Hallelu Yah! Remember,friends, the grace of forgiveness you receive will be according to the measure you forgive others.

Before I end, I want you to re-read this verse: “See to it that you don’t miss the grace of God and that no bitter root springs up to cause trouble and defile many”

By Shyju Matthew

www.shyjumathew.com
Email: shyjumathew@yahoo.com

Forgiveness is the final frontier before you enter into your victory. I’ve seen many people who struggle in their spiritual life because they have issues that are yet not cleared from their heart. What happens then is that it creates a window for the devil to enter. It is very crucial that you do not keep issues in your heart and that you share it with the person concerned and forgiving the person completely just like how Christ would do to us. Every time you hide things deep down in your heart it becomes subjected to darkness. And easily opens the window for the devil to have access into our lives as he is the king of darkness. But the moment it is exposed and thrown out of heart, it is then exposed to light and the darkness has no hold over it or any areas of our life. Un-forgiveness is one of the devil’s greatest weapons to hold us down. The person that has hurt has even forgotten what has happened and going on with their life where as we are so hurt and hold on to it and that stops us from everything else we do in our life. When you have been through certain things, you feel for other people who have been through those things, because you relate to them. Thus you slowly become bound to people those are filled with hatred and bitterness. Not very far you become completely bound in your prayer life and your walk with God itself. 

Did God sleep off?
Why then did God allow these struggles in our life?

The bible tells, God never sleeps and he never slumbers. He’s in absolute control. The bible tells us that he knows us before we were formed in the womb. That means God knew us before your father met your mother. He knows how old you are, and he knows what happened to you, and he knows who walked out and left you, and he knows who betrayed your trust, and he knows who abused you, and he knows who rejected you, and he knows about your child, and he knows about the condition of your husband. You need to first understand this and tell yourself that nothing just happens and that God will turn things for good because you love God!! (Romans 8:28)

The answer is simple- “struggles are the pathway that leads us into our success.” For God can do more through our struggles. He’s done more through my struggles than he’s ever done through my successes. Successes are made out of the ingredients of our struggles. Allow the situation or the hurt to teach you about life, people and allow it to mostly teach you of God’s unconditional and never failing LOVE!What next?

Now to get out of the hurts that you have been you need to start confessing and exposing your hurts rather from hiding it deep down in your heart. If you can’t do it yourself find a Christian mother or pastor and share all the things that you went through and ask God to release his light to your heart and completely forgive the person. Or if the person is still alive go to that person tell them how much hurt you have been but that you forgive them.

Then you need to keep telling yourself that something good is going to come out of this. Otherwise you would feel like a victim and you would forever feel sorry for yourself and not feel safe to remarry again, and not safe to get another job again, and not safe in another church again and so on, because you have a unresolved issues out of your past; If you trust God with all your things then it is also important to trust God with all the hurts he allowed in your life. Ask God to help you forget what has happened and ask God to give you wisdom to start over fresh.