Passion for Christ

First love is loving the First. God is first and He should remain first in our lives forever. 


The whole journey of walking with Christ through our lives is a journey from selfishness to selflessness, from pride to humility. What will keep us going down this path? This hard, narrow, painful path? The answer is – Our passion for the Lord.

At the beginning of our Christian walk, we are full of joy. As we go through various trials and temptations it is easy to lose our passion for Him. It is easy to lose our first love for Him.

The following is the first of a series of sermon named – “Your Spirit. Your Passion” taken by Pastor Clariss.

God is seeking true worshippers. We are the last or the last but one generation before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Timothy 3 talks about how people will love many things and neglect the love for God. It also describes how apostle Paul went through persecution and yet stood strong for the Lord. None of the apostles wavered in their love for God. They did not become too familiar with the Lord. They did not grow lukewarm. They loved Him with a fervent passion. What can go wrong that we lose out this passion? 

So how do we measure our passion for the Lord? Do we measure by the things we do for Him? Eg. I clock in time with the Lord. I pray. I follow our pastor’s instructions. 
David’s passion for God was a hunger, a longing, a yearning for His presence. 

Revelation 2:3,4 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 

Passion for the work of Christ can become greater than the passion for His presence. 

If your passion is set in the right place then everything else will fall in place. The things we do for God, the blessings we receive would all be a byproduct of our passion for God. 

     Psalm 42:1,2 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
            So my soul pants for You, O God.My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
            When shall I come and appear before God?          

Passion is powered by 3 things

1.    Desire – (A constant hunger for the favor of His nearness)
You must have a commitment towards Him; An attachment, a connection with Him. The key verse in my (Clariss maa) life. 

Mathew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.   

Keep talking to God; at the level of your understanding. You may not know how to pray. Just talk. Pour your heart out. Without your spirit getting attracted to Him, He cannot come close to you nor can your passion grow. (Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.)     Throughout the day desire Him, thirst for Him, hunger for Him more, and more. Passion is expressive. When you express easily in your personal time you can express in public worship also. 

2.    Discipline – Passion for God is birthed by an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. You cannot become passionate about someone until you know the person. Passion is produced by quality time with Him. 

Exodus 34:14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 

If you give more time to children, work, etc you are making God jealous. Our time with Him cannot be disturbed. Fix it. Lock yourself in. Don’t allow any distractions. He is waiting, looking, longing for you. There must be order in our life (God is a God of order; not chaos).  We must be clean vessels (no bitterness or resentment). Passion sets boundaries. God sees how you stop calls, stop people from disturbing your focus on Him, and set aside exclusive time for Him. 

Psalm 37: 4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Those who diligently seek Him will be rewarded.  

Create your secret place where you spend intimate moments with Him alone. After your fellowship with the Lord, you leave that place filled and full of the Holy Spirit

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 

3. Determination – Breakthrough prayer. Breakthrough worship. God is attracted to such people. He sees the spirit and passion. He sees how His people press through, passionate; breaking all barriers to reach the goal. 

Philippians 3:13, 14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

You are putting your past away, leaving it behind, and pressing on. In the natural, we are willing to do everything to achieve success. That is determination. The same goes for loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. 

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

We must have the Spirit of holiness and righteousness living in us. Without it, we cannot enter into His presence. The onus lies on us to kindle the spiritual fervor and keep going.

Psalm 150: 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! 

Breath is given to us to praise the Lord

  Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” 

WE ARE CREATED FOR HIS GLORY – THIS IS OUR PURPOSE

There is a step higher than worship – that is activating His glory in us. Jesus modeled a passionate, purpose driven life doing the will of God. 

The living word shows us how to manifest as the Son of God. The heavenly pattern should be activated and lived on earth. We have to be more of heaven and not earthly. Only then we can transform into His likeness. Righteousness will increase and the glory of God will come and dwell in us. 
Holy Spirit and God’s glory are connected. Only through the strength of the Holy Spirit, the power of Christ can increase. The presence of the Holy Spirit depends on your response to the Word of God. 

Ephesians 3:16-18 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 

Once you achieve spiritual stature it is impossible to stop you. You’ll be flowing like the river with the Holy Spirit. Spiritual stature is our destination. Like father, like son. Like Father, like daughter. Without passion, nothing can be established. 
Spiritual passion is for fulfilling the purpose of God. If the spiritual dimension is not there we have nothing to give out. Ministry without God encounter is dangerous. Then you depend on your own strength. Your talent and skill are not what He is looking for. He is looking at how your heart is.  
Spiritual passion is for warfare.      

Psalm 149:6-9 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations And punishment on the peoples, To bind their kings with chains And their nobles with fetters of iron, To execute on them the judgment written; This is an honor for all His godly ones.
            Praise the LORD!     

This should be our identity

  •  High praises in our mouth
  • Carrying His word and His presence
  • The power of the Holy Spirit
  • Anointed for service
  • We build passion first before we carry weapons of warfare
  • We function as the double-edged sword
  • We are the power against the enemy    
  • Are we there yet?
        How does passion fizzle out? Only we can put out the passion for God by sin, rebellion, and procrastination. We may become lazy, undisciplined, or procrastinate (this is the worst of all because then He cuts you off) 

1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit; 

Don’t put Him out. Don’t ignore Him when He comes to convict us. 

Acts 7:51 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.  

Identify areas where we are not yielded to the Holy Spirit. Have a circumcised heart. Return back. Rekindle the fire

Satan’s plan for us
Satan hates the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Fire for God drives him crazy. Quenching it is his main assignment on earth. Satan knows this anointing because he had it once before when he was the closest to God until wickedness was found in him. All challenges set before us is known to God before it is executed on us. 

Luke 22:31 Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 

God has to give satan permission before he can touch us.  Challenges are necessary. Then we are tried, tested, proven then taken by God

God’s plan for us     God is raising a generation that will not fail. 

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 

We are His prime property. He has all intentions to build us, build up our potential, help us finish what He has purposed for us. Mark of the unstoppable generation is passion set on Jesus Christ. 

How to know if our passion for God is growing?     Is the presence of God coming in increasing measure in our lives? When passion for God increases this will happen. More interaction with the Holy Spirit results in an increase in passion for God. How is your water level? Is it increasing? Has it become stagnant? Has it run dry? Our inner reservoir should never run dry. Learn how to go deep in God. Use the worship patterns shown in the Word of God. Are you growing more like His nature, His values, His principles?

    An example of a passionate worshipper is David    

Psalm 63:1-8 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
            My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
            In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
            And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, For You have been my help,
            And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You;
            Your right hand upholds me.    

David was a great leader. Passionate worshipper. A favorite of God. Even though He sinned, he never repeated the sin. He was the only one that God called – A man after my own heart. He gave the highest priority to worship. His spiritual eyes were opened to see God. He kept encountering God in an increased measure. 


In the wee hours the Holy Spirit comes in and communes with you; sleep will leave your eyes. Long for such experiences. What are we really passionate about? Where is our heart? Let us strive to be called a man or woman after God’s own heart

Effective tips for boosting immunity

Tips for boosting immunity 

1. Apply coconut oil in your nostrils as often as you are comfortable. Coconut oil (or any oil) contains fat. Fat breaks the virus’ protective coat of protein. It destroys the virus before it can enter the lungs

 2. After brushing your teeth use Gingelly oil to do “oil pulling”. This  strengthens gums and also coats your throat with oil thus killing the virus at the entry point itself

 3. Ginger soaked in honey can be had in the morning

 4. Mid-morning tea can be herbal. Add turmeric, pepper, ginger, saunf, black jeera, tulsi, in water. When it boils add about 1 teaspoon of tea. Finally add a squeeze of lemon. You can sweeten it as per your taste

 5. In between snacks can include sprouts (green gram sprouts). They are very rich in vitamin C. Boiled lentils (sundal in Tamil) are protein-rich snacks

 6. Try to include at least four different colors of food in your meals. This way you will eat a balanced diet that includes all micronutrients

7. Include seeds in your diet – Chia, sunflower, pumpkin to name a few

 8. You can add jeera, betel leaves or tulsi leaves to the water while boiling and consume through the day

9. Do salt water gargling and steam inhalation daily 

10. You can prepare a mouthwash at home by adding Alum powder in a small bottle of water

11. Before brushing in the night you can have garlic soaked in honey. Apply this honey on your throat 

Following are the Siddha medicines that are good for immunity boosting. Siddha medicines have no side effects. Siddha simply strengthens the body to perform its natural functions effectively.

1. Ashwagandha tablet – General tonic, nervine tonic. Rejuvenates and builds immunity 

2. Kabasura kudineer is used in Corona treatment and has been found effective. Put one spoon of kabasura kudineer in two cups of water. Boil it; reduce it to half the quantity. This is enough for a family of 4. In the first week have this decoction daily. During the second week have the decoction on alternate days. From the third week onwards once in 2 days. Fourth week onwards once a week. This can be continued during pandemic period. Consume within 4 hours of preparation. The above dosage is for prevention purposes only. For treatment dosage contact a siddha doctor. 

3. Thaleesadhi churanam – essential drug for winter to tackle cough. It also cures indigestion and acts as an immune booster. For cough you can have 1 tsp mixed in honey 3 – 4 times a day, for indigestion take one dose after every meal, for immunity building twice daily

 4. Amla churana and adhimadhuram churanam – immune booster, liver protector. Have half a teaspoon each with honey everyday 

Immunity boosting medicines that are available normally in pharmacies are – Cod liver oil capsules, Beckocym C, Revital H, and Chyawanprash. 

Immunity boosting medicines for children under 6 ( who cannot swallow tablets) are Becosule syrup (5 ml), “R 88” homeopathy medicine (5 drops in water), and from Siddha – (adhimadhuram + amla churna + Ashwagandha) all three mixed with honey. These medicines are to be consumed once every day. 

Praying in the Spirit

Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

When we pray in tongues consistently and fervently, there are words that are going to come that will unlock many things in the spirit realm.

Our Spirit gets charged up and it becomes easier to hear the voice of God. Our spirit receives instructions and we heed the instruction. We pray in English and it is done in Jesus’ name. This takes effort on our part and is not automatic. We need to practice daily until we come to the place of hearing God’s voice.

Tongues is a prayer tool. A language only you and God know. The devil has no access.

How to pray in tongues?

1.     Pray regularly until it becomes a lifestyle

2.    Pray consistently until it becomes a force

3.    Pray aloud, audibly until you are filled with passion and zeal and you feel the strength of the Spirit

4.    Pray progressively until it becomes a language

5.    Pray consciously until you catch what the Holy Spirit is saying/doing

6.    Pray abundantly, increase the flow of vocabulary until your spirit is buoyant

7.    Pray until it becomes an understandable language

8.    Pray in English

9.    Increase utterance, increase volume, increase abundance, increase bodily actions – let your spirit be free, increase the power of your voice, increase the control on the power of your voice, increase Spirit activity, increase integration ie., pray in tongues and English alternatively as led by the Spirit

Your frequency will change. You are becoming a warrior.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

So come to the Prayer War Room to wage warfare. We are built to bring up down the forces that are working against us.

The full message on Praying in tongues given by Papa Jonathan David can be found here.

Building an altar for God

As a child of God, our greatest challenge will be continuing to walk with God all the days of our lives. This is a top priority job. It is a major shift from our usual way of functioning. It requires discipline.

How to build this consistent intimate connection with God? How to build your Personal Altar?

The FIVE Ps of building your personal altar

  • Praise, worship and focus heart and mind on God
  • Power of Prayer
  • Partnership with the Holy Spirit
  • Prophetic intercession of Spirit
  • Power of Word

1. Praise, worship and focus heart and mind on God

Learn new songs, learn the songs well and push in the spirit. Be a true worshiper. When you worship, something of the flesh dies and something of heaven is deposited in your life. Read the book of Ruth to understand what Jesus did for us. Ruth is the picture of the gentile church and Boaz a picture of Jesus. When we accept Christ’s sacrifice He becomes our kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman-redeemer takes charge of your life, pays your debt, takes care of you, avenges any issue against you; assumes total responsibility for your life. In worship, you understand who He is, what He has done for you. Worship brings rain. God is seeking true worshipers. The devil flees from such water-filled places

2. Power of Prayer

Prayer is thinking, asking and expressing the intention of God. Maintain a prayer journal. Have a blueprint for every area of your life. Place your requests at God’s feet every day, faithfully until it comes to pass. Hang onto God in every situation in every step then the God of peace will crush satan under your feet. How does God crush satan under your feet? Satan always brings in negative emotions in your life. The way to crush him is to access peace

3. Partnership with the Holy Spirit

In Genesis chapter 1 God spoke the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit brought it into existence. So now we are being made into a new creation according to the Word by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the author of the Word and where His word is accepted as a blueprint He starts creating anew. He cannot operate without the blueprint in place. If our mind is not renewed by the Word of God we cannot be led by the Holy Spirit. The blueprint of the world should be replaced by the Word. The Word of God should determine our core values. Core values determine our behavior. As we partner with the Holy Spirit He will

  • Establish us in our faith. He will impart faith
  • He will establish us in our love for God. The fruit of which is the increase in our love for other people
  • He will always exalt Jesus in our life. He will reveal Jesus in our life
  • He helps us understand how great is God’s love for us
  • He will work in us to bring us to the full measure of Christ
  • Lead, teach, direct, guide us to live accurately in the way God originally made us to live

4. Prophetic intercession of Spirit

We receive Word through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the scriptures. That rhema, that specific word that impacts our spirit will be the starting word for intercession. You pray aloud the Word you have received for a situation. This will be a double edged sword against the work of the enemy.

The key to intercession is intimacy with God. Intercession is based on God’s character and nature. Intercession is based on knowing the heart of God.   

  • Build up the atmosphere (make Him feel welcome)    
  • Remove conflicts from your heart. Stay away from conflicts for God to enter. The more we are clean internally, God’s presence increases externally
  • Taking the prophetic words to declare them into the atmosphere again  and again 
  • Intercede until
    • a sense of peace surrounds the place of intercession
    • an awareness of His Presence results in thanksgiving
    • a deeper sense of faith in the heart–God has heard. He is in control
    • the grieving is replaced by a floating joyful spirit within. You woe has turned to wow
    • your spirit is charged and energized- new and increased flow of the Spirit
    • you feel refreshed and revitalized – you are quickened internally with strength from high above

5. Power of Word 

                          The primary purpose of WOG is to come and transform us. The Word comes to reflect what God’s demands are. The Word comes to set us free. The power of the Word is to transform us into Christ-likeness from the inside – Which is the GREATEST MIRACLE EVER. We received Word through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the scriptures. The rhema opens our spiritual eyes to see first our weaknesses because it comes to deal the flesh. The Fear of the Lord will be experienced. Holy Spirit quickens our spirit to obey. The (dunamis) Power in Word is addressing us to repent, dismantle & demolish and return. We have to hear correctly and make informed decisions. We subject, those things pointed out by the Holy Spirit in our lives, to the Word. Then the Holy Spirit comes in and adds strength. He has the power to sustain us because we have decided to obey the Word cause of our love for God. 

                     Ideally, the place to focus on God will be a quiet place with no distraction. Since I live in a crowded city and a noisy apartment I chose to walk in a quiet corner of a nearby park, after sending my children to school and worship God. After the pandemic started I was locked down in the house with my whole family. So I created my own quiet space by waking up at least a few hours before the others woke up. This became my personal spot with the Lord. 

I would start by reading the Word until I got the Word that touched me with new strength and vigour. A correcting word. An encouraging word. A word that uplifts my faith. A word that clearly shows how God is operating in my life. As soon as I catch that Word from our Father my heart will start singing with joy. Worship becomes automatic. I would push in the spirit with tongues and new songs from my heart. I would use songs that I already know and I also sing new songs as led by Holy Spirit. Worship led by the Holy Spirit leads us into the holy of holies; into the very presence of God. I worship until I feel a sense of satisfaction. A feeling of nearness to God. 

Then I start my prayer. My prayer war room is built on my mobile using two apps. YouVersion bible app and PrayerMate prayer app. Both the apps equip the user with ways to add scripture to prayer burdens. I keep praying, prophesying, proclaiming about all that I am led by the Holy Spirit to pray. I stop praying when a sense of calm and peace enter my heart and I get a clear direction to start my whole day. Then I begin my day. Touching God at the start of the day ensures that I am connected with Him throughout the day. This is essential for our walk towards Christlikeness. When we remain in Him and His words remain in us then we are true disciples of Christ.

My testimony

I was born in a Hindu family. I grew up worshipping idols. From a very young age, I remember a search in my heart for God. At the age of 15, my parents gifted me a Bhagawat Gita and I started reading it. Every day I would wake up at 5:30 am, take my chanting beads to the terrace, and walk and chant the mantras 108 times. After that, I would pray and read the Gita for some time. My one constant prayer was – “God, if you are real I must know you.” This God encounter in Hindu culture was called Moksha. 

According to that book, there were 4 stages in human life. In the first stage, you are a bachelor, then a householder, then you separate yourself from your family and search for God and finally you enter a stage where you deny all physical comforts and try to meet God alone. I was shocked by reading that. I wondered how people were so confident they would be alive until then. What would happen if we died in a previous stage? What if we never get to know God? According to Hinduism, if you die without knowing God you will go through a cycle of rebirth. You might be born again as anything. By a slight chance, if you were born again as a human being, you could restart your pursuit of God. I felt that this was leaving too many things to chance. 

I decided it is the birthright of a human being to do everything in his capacity to meet his creator and to know the true purpose of his life. And so I pursued after God in many temples and ashrams. I chanted the mantras they taught me. Although all these places were very peaceful and serene and uplifted my soul, they never gave me a permanent solution. I did not meet God anywhere. Wherever I went, I felt I only got a cup of water to drink, and then I would feel thirsty again. As I continued this pursuit for 9 years, I got married, and our family grew. 

My husband had a transferable job, and we came to a place called Lonavala for one of his postings. At that time, he was a junior officer and could not find accommodation for us at the naval base. He stood near the office, wondering what to do. Suddenly, out of the blue, a senior officer approached him and asked him in Tamil how he could help him. My husband explained his predicament. That officer immediately booked a room under his name for us. We had never met him before. When I moved to Lonavala, I met this officer and his family. They were having a prayer meeting in their house on that day. When we were introduced to the pastor, he prayed for us. I felt a warm presence covering me as he prayed. (That was the Holy Spirit. I was unaware). 

A week later, they invited me to their church. In my pursuit of God, I was open to visiting any place of worship. So I went. There they sang this song – What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I was a voracious reader, and so when the couple gifted me a Bible, I took it and started reading it just like any other book.

Meanwhile, God was bringing deep questions within my heart. Was my life OK? Was I being a good mother? How do I raise my child right when my own life was so full of wrongs. I kept reading many books and journaling my questions and praying for answers. 

One day I was alone in the room and I casually picked up the Bible and started reading sitting on the bed. It was a random page. But one sentence popped out that day. “Know that I am the Lord. Your God.” And I knew. A wave of shock, remorse for my sins, and joy of hearing from God for the first time hit me all at once. I slid down from the bed and started crying. I sensed the presence of God and Jesus in that room. I understood the meaning of the song they had sung earlier in the church. Jesus is THE ONLY WAY to God. He died on the cross FOR ME so I could receive forgiveness from God. I said – “God. I now know you are there. (I know you are real).” 

I told my husband about what happened and he believed me! Three days later, I was sitting on the same bed with my son. I suddenly wondered – “Did I just imagine it all? Or did I really meet God?” The next moment I turned to see my son choking. His eyes went up and he started losing consciousness. My husband came running in hearing my screams and somehow we got dressed and picked up our child God provided a driver on the way who drove us down to the hospital because we were too hysterical to drive. Thankfully the hospital was right down the street. No doctor was available but a junior sailor came running out. God gave him the wisdom to immediately clear the food passage of our baby (his lips had gotten blue by this time and he was completely out). Then he regained consciousness and started crying. 

Although he was Ok the doctor advised we admit him. So we had to stay in the hospital for 3 days. While my son slept under heavy medication, I paced the corridors thinking about all that had happened. Throughout that time I felt the Presence of God. It was like I could sense God in the plants kept in the corridor. The sun. The breeze. Everything was God. By the end of that hospital stay, I was convinced beyond a doubt that I had met my God, and He was real in my life and He was here to stay. I finally felt my thirst was satiated.