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Thu May 03, 2012
Why the name “Dannah”?
As I had mentioned in my previous post Why the name "Abigail", we had decided on the name Abigail a long time ago. When Abigail was in Chrish's tummy, we wanted to choose an additional name for our darling daughter. This task was not that easy. We considered so many names but could not settle on any name.
During this time I had come across a book titled Secret Keeper by Dannah Gresh. I got a copy of that book for Chrish just a couple of weeks before Abigail was due, and Chrish started to read that book that same day. If you are a young girl, I would definitely encourage you to read this book. It would also be a valuable gift to someone you know. While reading that book Chrish had considered the name Dannah for our lovely daughter but before she got to tell me her suggestion, I made the same suggestion to her. There are at least four reasons for us to finally settle on that name.
1. The name Dannah is quite uncommon & we were indeed looking for an uncommon name.
2. The name is found in the Bible (Joshua 15:49) and is synonymous to the name Daniel & means "judgement" or ""Judge" or "God is my judge".
3. I did not want our daughter to have a first name starting with the first character in the alphabet, since she might end up first on any alphabetically sorted list & being first always may not be that pleasant. Hence Dannah was a good name to complement the name Abigail.
4. God has used Dannan Gresh in a unique way and the subjects that she addresses are very important and seldom addressed. I am happy and proud for my daughter to be her namesake.
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Why the name "Abigail"?
Chrish & I had decided a few years ago that should we have a daughter, we should name her Abigail. There are at least five reasons for this decision.
1. The meaning of the name Abigail is "Father's delight". I had always wanted to have a daughter & this name underscored that.
2. Abigail in the Bible is a wife of David. She was a very intelligent woman. When her husband Nabal acted stupidly & did not treat David righteously, she took quick decisions and averted a great disaster. Her decisions were quick, effective and proved positively decisive in the history of Israel (1 Samuel chapter 25).
3. Abigail is again described as a woman who processed great spiritual insight. At that time
David was like a nomad & a fugitive and Saul the King was after his life. However Abigail had great insight to know that God would make David the King one day because David fought God's battles (as opposed to Saul who was fighting his own battle). She clearly knew that God would build a "sure house" for David (1 Samuel 25:28). A common woman in the Old Testament times to have such great revelations and that too about the greatest king of Israel was phenomenal and quite unthinkable.
4. Abigail, by her quick decisive action she prevented David from committing a great sin. David had so far resisted fighting for his throne but has only fought God's battles. Only at this juncture do we find him lose focus of God's calling and promise when he vowed to fight his own battle. If not for Abigail's swift and intelligent actions, David would have displeased God & Israel would have lost great kings.
4. On top of all these great, unique, precious and rare characteristics, Abigail is also described as a woman of great external beauty (1 Samuel 25:3).
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Welcome, Dannah Abigail Ronald!
On the first of March, 2012, we welcomed our darling precious baby daughter Dannah Abigail Ronald.
If you are curious about her given names, you should read my other posts "Why the name Dannah?" and "Why the name Abigail?".
Click here to access some of the digital clicks of her birth.
If you want more, I will not disappoint you.
Here is access to some of the memories of our darling cute daughter Abigail, taken during her first two months.
[2] comments (46 views)
Mon Sep 12, 2011
Four Tests for a Follower of Christ
We are born as selfish beings. All our decisions and actions are based on selfishness. However when we come to God we need to die to our self. Jesus said plainly that if we do not deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him, we have nothing to do with Him.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Let us look at four ways we could address this inherent selfish nature.
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Mon Aug 29, 2011
Now God had brought Daniel into favour…
Daniel 1: 9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
When we obtain favour with people in the world, let us remember two things so that we can keep ourselves from the trap of the devil.
1. It is God who enables us to obtain favour with men.
If we do not realize this truth, we would end up pleasing men and doing things to please them, which would most often displease God. We would also end up praising men and wanting to obtain praise from men instead of pleasing God and glorifying God and looking for His praise.
Though King Darius loved Daniel, he did not have the power to save him from the lions’ den. Instead he stood powerless before his own law. However Daniel’s trust was not on Darius but on God, and God saved him from the lions ( Daniel 6:14-22).
When Daniel's three friends were before the furnace they made it clear that just because the king had promoted them, they are going to please the king and do all that he wanted. They knew their promotion actually came from God and they were faithful to God and pleased God ( Daniel 3:16-18).
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Sun Aug 14, 2011
Daniel – leading by example
It is a great blessing when someone leads from the front. Today we have leaders who can talk and give council and direction but only a handful lead by example.
In Daniel 1:8-17 , we read about Daniel's small decision and how it encouraged his three friends to follow his example. Later, in In Dan 3:16-18, we read how this simple example enabled these three friends to take a stand for God before the fiery furnace. Daniel wasn’t there with them at that time but by following Daniel’s example before, they have experienced the faithfulness of God personally and now they were ready to tread this road all alone.
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Fri Aug 05, 2011
But Daniel purposed in his heart…
…that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: (Daniel 1:8)
Daniel proves here that it is possible to please God wherever he is. However note that he was not taking this decision to blow his own trumpet so that he can be famous or something. He made this decision in his 'heart'.
I have seen people make these kinds of decisions to put themselves in the limelight or to condemn the action of others. This is exactly what the Pharisees did.
Mt 23:5 - But all their works they do to be seen by men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
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The "Lord gave" Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand
Daniel 1:1,2
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
What a significant statement: "The Lord gave". History would tell Nebuchadnezzar defeated Jehoiakim and conquered Judah. That's how the world looks at things. We, from birth, are trained to look at things through the eyes of the world. Though that view is wrong we blindly follow it. Only when our eyes are opened by the glorious Gospel do we start seeing things though the Word of God. This is called walking by faith & not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). For a human eye, the strong army of king Nebuchadnezzar defeated king Jehoiakim, but by faith when we turn to the Word of God for the real interpretation, we are presented with the true picture. It was God who handed over Jehoiakim to Nebuchadnezzar because of the disobedience of His people and this has nothing to do with the military strength of king Nebuchadnezzar.
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Wed Aug 03, 2011
Supper at Bethany – Mary’s act of faith
John 12: 1-8 describes a beautiful instance of a family serving Jesus. However we need to go beyond that and see the important lesson that we need to learn from God's point of view. Jesus was called a glutton because he visited houses and took part in meals (Matthew 11:19). However He didn't visit houses to eat but to minister to the needy souls (Matthew 9:9-12). Remember the time on the mountain in the desert when there was no one to prepare a meal for Him and His hearers, and there was no money nor a place to buy food, he multiplied the meagre bread and fish to feed thousands and they even had left overs (John 6:1-14).
During the first recorded encounter between Jesus and this family, Mary choose to sit at Jesus' feet instead of helping Martha in preparing the meal for Jesus and the crowd. At that instance Jesus clearly said that Mary had chosen the one thing that is needed (Luke 10:38-42). We tend to think and interpret in human ways and think that Martha also did something important. However it is not our interpretation or ideas or opinion that matters. Jesus plainly said that Mary choose the only one thing that is needed and that settles the matter very clearly and leaves us no room for any misinterpretations. Jesus came with the Good News and wanted everyone to listen to His words and not be bothered with cooking meals for Him. He came to minister and not to be ministered and we need to have the humility to let Him minister (Matthew 20:28). That attitude of Mary to seek the one important thing made her understand the impending death of Jesus, which even His disciples did not understand. Hence on this occasion, it is not sitting with Jesus (like Lazarus) or serving (like Martha) that was important but anointing Jesus’ body in preparation for His burial. Everyone had the opportunity to do it and everyone had the opportunity to know that Jesus was going to lay down His life for them. Jesus had mentioned it many times quite plainly. However it was only Mary, by her attitude of choosing to silently sit at Jesus' feet without any distractions, understood it and did what Jesus wanted her to do. Mary’s act was not a result of her gratitude for the resurrection of Lazarus. We tend to infer it that way since this happened after the resurrection. But that is the human interpretation. Jesus clearly told the crowd that Mary had been keeping this against his burial (John 12:7) and it was the reason for her action.
We never read anywhere about Jesus trying to grab anything for Himself but here we see him yearning for this act of Mary. He clearly wanted it and though all could have performed this act it was only Mary who performed it. Maybe Mary would have told her sister about her plans. But no one else joined her then or even after her act. All others had only one thing to say and that was "what a waste!!!".
Through this story we could learn a lot about faith.
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