Imrah Ministries

By Sidharth Mohandas

A day or two back my maid showed me some ugly caterpillars on one of our plants. We had to kill them because they were destroying the leaves. This morning when I was walking, I saw a piece of gold on this plant, but when I looked closer it wasn’t gold it was a golden pupa! We had ‘missed’ one ugly caterpillar which had turned into a beautiful golden pupa. The word that came to my mind… Metamorphosis! We might look at ourselves and see the ugly caterpillar in us. We wish we could kill the ‘ugly’ us, but then Scripture offers a process of metamorphosis. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. [Romans 12:2]

Do you know the Greek word used for transformed in the above verse? It’s Metamorphoo! The same Greek word for Metamorphosis. Don’t ever think that change can happen overnight, it’s a process just like how a caterpillar doesn’t change into a butterfly overnight. It’s a constant struggle to tame your mind to think thoughts that are in line with God’s thoughts.

I hear people say things like, “I’m an old sinner!”. That’s not what God says, He says that In Christ I became the righteousness of God [1 Corinthians 5:21] .I know I have constantly said to myself, “I’m an unstable person”, while I realized that I should be saying and believing that “Because I trust in the LORD I am like Mount Zion, I cannot be shaken but will endure forever” [Psalm 125:1]. When I feel lonely instead of saying, “I am lonely”, I should be saying, “The Lord is near me because I call upon Him, I call upon Him in truth” [Psalm 145:18]. When you are sick instead of saying, “Probably God wants me sick“, tell yourself, “By the stripes on His body healing is mine”.

Remember, metamorphosis is a process and not an event…

My friend, Shibu and my Mom were constantly ministering to me through text messages and calls. These played a major role in my deliverance, which I will talk about towards the end.

In my life the Lord has used Simon’s life countless times to encourage me to press on forward to reach the mark. Simon reminds me of myself. And this message is a message for the “Simon’s” around the world:

When Jesus first met with Simon, He looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter) [John 1: 42]

The name “Simon” means “unstable”, while the name “Cephas” is the Aramaic for “rock”. Jesus was in fact saying, “You are unstable, but you shall be stable as a rock”. And through out Simon’s life, my friends, God was determined in building Simon to Cephas, and He never gave up.

We all know how Simon said he’d stand for the Lord and was even ready to go to the prison with Him, but when the hour of trial came he failed the Lord by denying that he knew Him, even three times. Now beloved, three is a number that symbolizes “complete personality”. Man’s personality is triune, God’s personality is triune. Man would be incomplete if he didn’t have one of the three faculties: the spirit, soul and the body. The same way, God is incomplete without the trinity: Father, Son and the Spirit. The spiritual implication I draw from this is that Simon’s personality was totally messed up. I don’t know about you, but my personality is very unstable, not trust worthy, quick to speak and slow to perform. Do you know what Jesus did when Simon denied knowing Him three times? The Bible says in Luke 22:61, “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter”. Do you think that look was a look of condemnation? No, my friend, it was a look that said, “Peter, I still love you”.

Peter wept bitterly, he felt condemned and upset with himself. Though Peter saw the unstable “Simon”, Jesus saw the “Peter” that would come out of him.

After Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection, the women who went to Jesus’ tomb saw two angels in there who delivered the message that the Jesus who was crucified had risen. But notice what they go onto say… “But go, tell his disciples AND PETER…” [Mark 16: 7]. Those two words speak volumes. Beloved, God has never given up on anything He has started. And He is not ready to give up on you either.

Later Jesus makes breakfast for his disciples and when they finished eating, Jesus asks Simon three times, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me?”. And Peter’s reply all the three times was “Lord, you know that I love You”. I want to point out here that the Greek word Jesus used here for love was “Agape” which means “unconditional, divine love”, while the word Peter used for love was “Phileo” which in Greek is “natural affection or human love” [which is unstable]. Peter was still thinking about his “Phileo” love while Jesus was speaking of supernatural love. Peter thought his love for the Lord would make him stand, but where Peter’s “phileo” love failed, God’s “agape” love won! Hallelu-Yah!

When Simon received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, a remarkable change occurred in his life. Some people might think Simon became all perfect after this. But that’s not true. Simon did have weaknesses and did fail to be all that the Lord wanted him to be. Here’s an example from Paul’s epistle:

By Nick Shelton

Last week, I talked on the subject of reaching to individuals like the VA Tech school shooter who obviously have a empty void in their life by not knowing God’s grace. What many of us do not realize is that there are so many of these individuals in our lives - it could be that person who is enslaved to a particular sin, someone battling depression, or someone harboring hate against another. All of us have connections to individuals that could impacted by knowing about God’s grace and truth.

This subject was on my mind one morning I walked to classes at my university. Just in my five minute walk across campus, I was exposed to those in obvious sin. I saw those who were stumbling across the stairs after a night of drug and alcohol abuse. I saw girls leave the dorm rooms after spending the night with a guy they met the night before. I saw two homosexuals holding hands walking down the sidewalk.

My first reaction is to think less of such individuals. I also tend to think of myself as a good Christian for not associating with such “sinners” or engaging in similar activities.

However, after reading several verses in the Bible, I realized that it was to these people that Jesus witnessed to. It was the prostitutes, tax collectors, and “sinners” that Jesus ate with. He did not associate himself with the devout Jews (notably the Pharisees), but He spent His time caring for and witnessing to the ones who were in need of His love.

 It was then I realized that what I should be doing is accepting those who are in noticeable sin. I try to show love for them just as Jesus was in my situation.

Relating this to the VA Tech shootings, I have been questioning how God would want us to react to individuals like Cho Seung-Hui, if he were in our class, or if we passed him in our walk to work/class every morning. After studying scripture, I have come to the conclusion that God would want us to reach out to these individuals and tell these individuals how they could relieve their inner pain.

I do not want to imply that the ones that knew Hui are at fault for what happened. But it is very likely that things on the Virginia Tech campus would be much different this week if someone showed loved to Hui and showed that they cared; instead of labeling him a “loner” and treating him like he did not exist.

The main message I wanted to get across in this blog entry is that we can have an amazing impact just by telling others about God’s grace – or the “Jesus touch.” Our connections and friends who are struggling with sin or depression may never attempt to murder dozens of innocent individuals, but just showing him/her that we care could be enough to completely change his/her life. We may even find we radically change our lives for the better after trying to reach out to these individuals.

Matthew 9:9-11

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?”