Saturday, April 30, 2011

GRATEFUL HEARTS AND PRAISING LIPS!!

GRATEFUL HEARTS AND PRAISING LIPS!

Verse for Today: Saturday, April 30, 2011
Psalms 34:1 - I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.

Rain, snow or sunny weather doesn't change the character of God. He is the very present help to His beloved children at all times and is near to them always. He looks after them in all circumstances and meets all their needs. All His actions cause them to praise Him all the time. Some of the experiences of God's people might not be joyful in itself, but they will learn in the due course that it was all for their good and that it all worked together in their lives for God to accomplish His purpose in their lives. When we know Him through the expression of His attributes in our lives and around us, it ought to make us praise Him. His glory can be seen in all that He takes us through to cause us to praise Him. He teaches us His truth through our experiences on a daily basis. He encourages us when we face rough patches in life. He admonishes us to walk in His pathways and not to take detours. He gives us the desires of our hearts to enable us to walk according to His will for us. He allows us the experiences of both hills and valleys. In the valleys, He teaches us that He is with us to take us through the low experiences of life and take us out of it. He also helps us to climb the hills as He accomplishes great things in and through us. When the enemy comes to fight us, He uses us as instruments to fight him out because it is His battle and not ours. When we consider these multifarious ways by which the Lord takes us through life experiences, all of it would cause us to praise Him. There won't be any moment when we would not be able to praise Him because He works all the time in our lives for our good and for His glory.

Dear reader, if you are going through difficulties, recognize it as the Lord's leading to teach splendid lessons in your walk with Him, and that ought to make you praise Him. If you are confronted with the enemy face to face, you can fearlessly praise the Lord because in such circumstances He is with you. When you have some unmet needs, you can praise Him for His ways to meet those needs at the right time. When you go through pain, consider it an avenue to praise Him because in comparison to the pain many others are going through, perhaps your pain is not unbearable. Praise Him also for His compassion in removing the pain at the right time. If your pain is not removed here on earth, soon there will be a time when you will reach His presence in Heaven where there will be no more pain. If you have experiences of failure in life, remember to praise Him because you have already gained so much as a child of God and that even when you loose materially, no one can stop you from gaining spiritually. Please also remember that the gain or loss on earth doesn't matter because these things do not have any value in the accounting of God. If you are friendless and lonely, praise Him for He is your wonderful and never-changing friend. All our earthly experiences are worth praising the Lord at all times because they work together for our good and for Him to be glorified in our lives. So whether you are in front of tyrants like Abimelech, in prison cells of circumstances like Joseph, in lion's den like Daniel or in fiery furnace of adversity like the three Jewish men, you are in the presence of God from where His peace emanates to you to cause you to praise God. Today is another day He has created for you to praise Him and to live for His glory.

Psalms 118:1 - Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures for ever.

Thought for Today
Praise is the prism through which the glory of God will come in to fill us during the darkest days of our lives.



Friday, April 29, 2011

SINGLENESS OF DEVOTION!

SINGLENESS OF DEVOTION!

Verse for Today: Friday, April 29, 2011
Psalms 86:11b - Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.

A great battle has been going on since the time of creation for the heart of man. God created man with a heart for Him. Man had undivided fellowship with God in the coolness of the Garden of Eden. But when sin entered man, it divided his heart. Since that time, a battle has been waged by the enemies of God to capture the heart of man. The world has so many temporal attractions to divide the heart, attention, desire, priority and goals of man through mind manipulation. The world offers man so many hollow avenues for temporal satisfaction. These temporal avenues entice man with empty promises, and plunge man into frustration. Man moves from one avenue to another seeking satisfaction and contentment in life, never to find it. But all the while, God offers man singleness of heart through devotion, love, loyalty and allegiance to Him and the eternal realities that He offers. Satan encourages man to try to enjoy both the divine and the temporal at the same time which men have been trying since the Garden of Eden, but failed miserably. When man is tossed around with avenues of dissatisfaction, his life ends in a series of frustrations and discontentment. Thus human life has become a perennial battleground, filled with insecurity, rebellion, competition, gossip, envy, conflicts, fights and arguments to amass more of the temporal achievements which are like bubbles. In the midst of such battles for the minds, a child of God must desire an undivided heart filled with devotion and love to the Lord and His ways.

Dear friend, do you realize that there is a battle going on today for your heart and devotion? God loves you and wants you to love Him back with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and live for Him. If you live for Him with total allegiance and undivided loyalty, it will fill you with lasting satisfaction in life. You will then have no desire for competition, rebellion or conflict to achieve worldly goals in life. If you live in devotion and love for the Lord, He will keep your heart undivided. You will grow in deeper devotion to the Lord and will always want to have singleness of heart in loyalty to Him alone. But if you loose track of a life of total allegiance and devotion to Him, you will fall into the trap of the mirage of temporary satisfaction through a divided heart putting your loyalty to Satan, world and all that the Vanity Fair offers. If your heart is thus divided, you will loose your focus in life from the eternal to the temporal and will keep drinking the lukewarm water from the broken cisterns of this world and be never quenched. You need to ask the Lord to keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus and to live in reverence to Him. You need to daily give undivided attention to the Lord Jesus and His glory. When you are thus in continuous fellowship with Him, He will fill your heart with Himself which will be the most satisfying experience in life. As your eyes are fixed on the author and finisher of your faith, you will enjoy peace, joy, patience, goodness, grace, gentleness, kindness and satisfaction which no force on earth can take away from you. Let your prayer today be for an undivided heart in total dependence, commitment and surrender to the Lord Jesus who gave Himself for you. He will fill you with Himself and in Him you will find all the desires of your heart fulfilled.

Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Thought for Today
The Great Physician is willing to set our divided hearts, make it whole again and fill it with divine and eternal bliss.



Thursday, April 28, 2011

RESTORATION OF BROKEN LIVES!!

RESTORATION OF BROKEN LIVES!

Verse for Today: Thursday, April 28, 2011
Isaiah 42:3 - A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not snuff out.


The world in which we live is a world full of broken and smouldering things as well as lives. Thus the world has become a heap of things and lives of people which are thrown away as trash. But the Lord works very differently with people. He waits for and welcomes those who are broken in themselves and are declared useless by others. He picks up those human lives which are written off by the world as failures. When the world doesn't accept the defeated, the Lord looks for those who are willing to accept their defeats and failures and to turn such lives around. The world and sin are the reasons why these lives are broken. Wrong or immature decisions are often the reasons why people fail and are subsequently stamped useless. But if the defeated and failed persons wrap the broken pieces in the rags of their lives and take it to the Lord, He will accept such broken and smouldering human packages and make them whole again. He will apply the Balm of Gilead on them and heal their brokenness. He will straighten out the lives which are crooked. He will rub off the smouldering marks on the wicks and use them again. He is the God of hope who puts hope into the most hopeless lives. He doesn't write off any life which comes to Him, but rewrites these lives for Him. He is interested in wiping off the dark and stained past from these lives and makes them bright. Those broken lives will be set properly and healed by Him who is the Great Physician. He not only heals physical ailments, but also the emotional and sinful lives of humans and makes saints out of even the greatest sinners. He invites such broken and smouldering lives to go to Him to get a new and brighter beginning with full of hope for a glittering future.

Dear friend, do you feel that your life has been marred by the past events and decisions? Do you think that you have messed up your life and that nothing can straighten it out? Have others around you written you off as a failure? Remember, our Lord is the Lord of the second chance. He restored the lives of prophets like Jonah, kings like David, Apostles like Peter, backsliders like John Mark and Patriarchs like Jacob. All of them had gone through a brokenness experience in their lives. The world around them wrote them off. They were broken reeds and the smouldering wicks at one time and there was no hope for them or about them. But the Lord took their lives, restored them, gave them new chances and opportunities and put them back to working order. He filled their lives with hope. He recommissioned them and gave their lives new direction. He healed their brokenness by His touch. His restoration is like the mending of a broken net or setting of a fractured bone and when He is done with it, it would be new again with full potential for the Master's use. So dear friend, if you think that there is no hope for you, please know that the Lord of creation and re-creation is able to set you free from your present situation of hopelessness and put you back on His track for a new life of hope. If you want to enjoy the new future that is available through Jesus Christ, all it takes is for you to surrender yourself to Him in whatever broken or smouldering condition you are in. Submit yourself to the fingers of the great Potter who can make you a new person with new possibilities and usefulness for His glory. Remember, there is hope for you even in the midst of hopelessness.

Psalms 103:3 - (The Lord) forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

Thought for Today
The Lord puts His hope in those thrown away lives by restoring them and making them whole again.



Wednesday, April 27, 2011

TAKE IT ALL TO JESUS!!

TAKE IT ALL TO JESUS!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Mark 1:30 - Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her.

We have the freedom and prerogative to tell Jesus any problems we face. Even those problems that we cannot share with any other human being can be shared with Jesus. When we are confronted with problems, our immediate tendency is to see what we ourselves can do about it on the basis of our knowledge, skills and experience. When we exhaust all our means, our next priority is to seek professional help from outside. But that is not what Jesus expects from us. He wants us to consider Him as the answer to all our problems and to tell Him all that we go through without any reservation or hesitation. That was what Mary, the mother of our Lord, did when the wine at the wedding at Cana was exhausted. She found a marvelous and miraculous solution to the difficulty through Jesus at the right time. The sinking disciples in the storm and waves told Jesus to save them and they were able to see miraculous rescue at His word. So when the disciples found the mother-in-law of Simon sick, they just told Jesus about it. He performed a great miracle and enabled her to get up to serve them. It is amazing that they did not waste any time to try to do something of their own to revive her. When the Great Physician is available and willing to help, why should there be any other means at all? The same Jesus is with us today to handle all our problems in His own way. This ought to give us confidence and courage to take all our problems to Him and take our hands off. When we leave it to Jesus, we will be able to find His marvelous ways in our lives. We can confidently say that Jesus is with us in all that we are confronted with day after day. Today let us involve Jesus in all that we are engaged in and make Him the Lord of our problems as well.

Dear reader, is there any seemingly difficult and impossible situation in your life today that needs desperate solution? Have you attempted to do all that you could to find answers to the puzzles that are in front of you? Do you feel frustrated as you wait for a solution to come? Today you need to ask yourself whether you have taken the time to ask the Lord to handle it for you. You need to take it all to Jesus and leave it there with Him. Once you hand it over to Him, there is no need for you to be anxious about it. When He touches it, the scene will change from failure to victory. Your situation will then move from hopelessness to become one of bright hope. The solution that Jesus offers is far greater than what our human minds would anticipate or imagine. The disciples would have expected Simon's mother-in-law to be well, but would have never expected her to quickly get up to prepare food for about 15 people. When we tell Jesus about our need without embarrassment or shame, He will come near to the problem and touch our areas of need with His hands and give us the solutions which far exceed our expectation or imagination. He is a personable Jesus who wants to get involved with our most intimate needs. He is with us and is waiting for us to take our problems to Him. His very presence with us is the opportunity He gives us to make use of Him to meet our needs. Are we waiting to attempt it ourselves first and thus wasting the opportunity to make use of Him? No matter what our sickness is today, whether it is physical, emotional, social, spiritual, economic, family-linked or relational, we need to tell it to Jesus rather than mess it up with our own indulgence. Jesus is available for us today to take our problems to Him and get a solution. Shall we do that today and get our needs met according to His status and dignity as the King of our lives?

Psalms 107:6 - Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress.

Thought for Today
The distance between our problems and solutions is just a cry to the Lord away.



Tuesday, April 26, 2011

DIVINE DELIVERY FROM TROUBLES!!

DIVINE DELIVERY FROM TROUBLES!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Psalms 34:19 - A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Human life is a series of troubles of various kinds. It has its ups and downs at unexpected times. These troubles come to man because he is a sinner and he lives in a sinful world. But the righteous person has more troubles. He lives in a sinful world as God's child and based on God's righteousness. When we live as God's children, we are enemies of all that God hates. All that is inimical to God become our enemies also. These enemies fight us in our bodies in the form of sickness, in our souls as emotional aberrations, and in our spirits as temptations. These enemies of God also try to manipulate our situations and relationships and give us troubles in our job situations, families, finances, businesses and neighbourhoods. Some troubles are also in our lives because of our thoughtlessness and carelessness. All of these end up in various difficulties and afflictions in our lives on a daily basis. Thus the life of a child of God is a series of troubles and often they have more troubles than others who are around them. But when others depend on human wisdom, intelligence, strategies and creativity to get out of their troubles and use their money power or influence to solve their troubles, God's children have a greater source to go to in getting out of their troubles. We can go to our Lord who understands our situations and the intensity of our troubles. He knows our incapacity to handle these troubles. So He has given us His Spirit to guide us in making the right decisions in all situations. If we do not quench or grieve the Spirit, He will speak to us through our conscience, spirit and also through His Word to give us His instructions to get out of trouble or to handle trouble His way. The Lord also directly interferes in all our situations in natural as well as supernatural ways to change things around us. Above all, He gives us His peace which passes all understanding in our difficulties.

Dear reader, are you under pressure from the troubles you are facing today? It is likely that your troubles are increasing day by day because when the enemy knows that you are growing more in your trust in your Lord, he will put more pressure on you with more troubles. But there is no need for you to feel miserable because of your troubles because your Lord knows all about it. He knows how to deliver you from it all and has a plan for your deliverance. But He demands that you hand your situations over to the Lord and take your hands off. He doesn't want you to use your human effort to get out of your difficulties, but to use the wisdom which He gives you. He wants you to ask Him for help and He will then be a present help in all situations. When we admit to the Lord that we are unable and incompetent to handle our situations ourselves, and seek His face to help us, He will help us. When we wait for His wisdom at His presence, we will be renewed in our spirits with His Spirit to handle our troubles. He will give us instructions about what to do when and how to do it. But all the time, the Lord will be at work for you. David could experience the work of the Lord in his life when he went through a series of troubles. The Lord delivered him from it all one by one. For delivery form each trouble, he had to depend on the Lord completely. The Lord was with David when he faced death and took him out of it and placed him on the throne in Israel. He filled David's heart with melodious songs which became the songs of praise Israel used in praising the Lord who delivers them all in their times of difficulties. The same Lord is with us today to deliver us from our troubles and equip us to march forward in a victorious procession.

Psalms 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Thought for Today
When we walk through the fiery furnace of trouble, our Lord walks with us, talks with us, teaches new us lessons in trust and takes us out of it unhurt.








Monday, April 25, 2011

RIGHT FEAR THAT TAKES AWAY ALL PHOBIAS!!

RIGHT FEAR THAT TAKES AWAY ALL PHOBIAS

Verse for Today: Monday, April 25, 2011
Psalms 34:9 - Fear the Lord, you His servants, for those who fear Him lack nothing.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom which will help God's children to know that there is no need to fear any one or thing else in this world. This fear of the Lord is not the emotion of phobia, but the highest degree of reverential regard for the person of God and His attributes. As God's children fearfully regard and respect God the way He is to be revered, it will prevent them from fearing any other forces on earth which try to stand on their way to believing His Word. God says in His Word that for all who have Him as their Shepherd, He will be their Jehovah-Jireh to meet all their needs. Quite often the future needs or wants stand as a threat to peaceful living. The doubt or unbelief about the future makes people become anxiously fearful to think about facing the unknown tomorrows of life. But if we do not fear the future, but fearfully accept the word of the Lord who is already there in our tomorrows with adequate and abundant resources to meet all our challenges and needs, He will meet us in all our tomorrows triumphantly. So the question that is posed before us today is whether we fear the unknown tomorrows or give full allegiance to the Lord who is already working in our tomorrows. If we take the promises of God with due respect, fear and trembling because it is pronounced by the never changing God who creates everything through the word of His mouth, we would not be anxious or fearful about our unknown tomorrows. So we need to respond to the pronouncements of God by showing greater reverence for His promises and provisions and simply and blindly believe in Him. This is the true faith and fear in the Lord which secures all our needs for the future without fear or trembling about the unknown tomorrows.

Dear friend, you and I are confronted by the question as to whether we reverentially and respectfully believe all that is promised by our God who knows us and our tomorrows, or fear the unknown tomorrows to live in anxiety and unbelief. It is not enough that we give lip service to the Lord, but need to respect Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our might. If we love Him as we say we do, we should also take Him at His Word and trust in His promises with all our faculties. If we thus believe the Lord for all that He is and all that He has spoken, there is not need to look into the unknown future and become confused, doubtful, perplexed and develop deep anguish, stress and phobia. Our Lord who has promised to look after us according to His dignity, status and resourcefulness should be regarded for all that He is in our lives through faith and trust in Him. We would develop such degree of trust in Him only by seeing Him through His revealed Word. He demands full, total and absolute faith and not half-hearted faith. Partial faith in Him is partial unbelief. Doubting Him means that we do not have any regard for what He has promised. Unbelief makes our God dead in our thinking. Confusions about what He has promised to do for us mean that we have really not known Him personally in His true attributes. If we have truly entrusted our eternity with Him, how can we take away our tomorrow from Him and devote ourselves to fear and becoming anxious? When our God speaks, even the Cherubs and Seraphs tremble and fall in line to obey Him in utter faith and trust in what He says. If so, how can His blood-bought children disregard His promises for their tomorrows and keep busy in anxieties and phobias? When our Lord examines our hearts today, will He see full reverence for Him in our hearts and subsequent unquestionable faith and trust?

Psalms 48:14 - For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.

Thought for Today
Fear and reverence for our God and His never changing promises will take away all our fears in life.




Sunday, April 24, 2011

THE POWER THAT OVERCOMES ALL OTHER POWERS!!

THE POWER THAT OVERCOMES ALL OTHER POWERS

Verse for Today: Sunday, April 24, 2011
Philippians 3:10 - I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.

It is one thing to positionally receive the blessings through the resurrection of Jesus, but a much greater thing to experience its power in our practical living. When we are suppressed and oppressed by the world with its evil forces, we come out of it in daily living through the power of the resurrection of Jesus by exercising our faith in the resurrected Lord. Mary Magdalene was so depressed at the departure of the Lord. She was willing to satisfy herself with the body of the crucified Christ, but when she was touched by the power of the resurrected Lord, she was filled with joy and hope in life. She became the first ambassador of Christ to convey the news that Jesus was alive. Thereafter Mary lived because of the knowledge that Jesus is alive and is with her and with all other believers. When John was in the Isle of Patmos, he experienced the touch of the power of the resurrection of Jesus which helped him to fill his heart with the vision of the resurrected Christ. The Lord's touch helped John to win over the loneliness of Patmos. The resurrected Christ met with Saul of Tarsus who was a lion devouring the followers of Christ, but made him Paul, a little lamb for God. He received personal appearance of the resurrected Lord to strengthen him in times of weakness and distress and showed Paul the way forward. The resurrected Christ gave personal appearance to more than 500 people who used the power of the resurrected Christ to turn the world upside down. They lighted millions of lives throughout the last twenty centuries. This power is available for us today to lighten and brighten our lives in times of darkness and weakness.

Dear reader, you and I live in the darkest of times in the history of the world. The lord of this world has blinded the eyes of the world so that it cannot see the Light of the Life who was once dead, but is alive forever. He is able to brighten all our paths no matter how dark they are. If we have lost the way and do not know where to turn to, He is our way. He will lead us daily in His truth. He will show us His will in His light and walk with us as we go on His ways. If we crave for love, He will pour abundance of His love in our hearts. If we are hungry and thirsty in our souls, He will fill us to overflowing with Him, the water and bread of life. if we are friendless, He will prove to us that in Him we have the best friend any body could ever get. When we cry, He will wipe our tears and give us the strength to rejoice in Him and in all that He has in store for us for daily victorious living. He will hold our hands to walk forward in the dark valleys of our life. He will meet all our emotional, physical and spiritual needs with Himself because in Him we have all that we ever want and need. His resurrection power has made us seated in heavenly places even though we live on earth. Even though this power is in us positionally, we need to desire it practically in our lives and seek to be filled with His Spirit so that the power of resurrection of Jesus becomes evident for us to hold on to. So dear reader, no matter what your situations are today, there is power available for you from the Lord to live victoriously. He will equip you to face all the challenges of life with the power of His resurrection.

Revelation 1:17 - ....And He placed His right hand on me, saying "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead and behold I am alive..."

Thought for Today
The power of the resurrection of Christ is able to take us through the greatest trials of life and bring us out victoriously.



Saturday, April 23, 2011

COOL SHADE ON A HOT DAY!!

COOL SHADE ON A HOT DAY!

Verse for Today: Saturday, April 23, 2011
Psalms 91:1 - He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

The sojourner of God does not find any safe shelter in this world. He dwells in the tents of the world which are only for a short while. This earthly shelter, whether it is the physical body or the roof above the head, is only temporary. While in this temporary shelter, the child of God is under constant attack by the enemies of his soul. These enemies of his soul see to it that he doesn't get any rest or relaxation. One after another, the enemies and their tactics inflict on them and try to make their lives miserable. There are temptations from the flesh, attractions from the world and trouble from Satan of various types. But if the sojourner moves into the shelter which is the Lord Most High, he will be able to enjoy a time of relief, safety, security and peace. This is because the tactics of the enemies of our soul will not penetrate into the shelter of the Most High. When we rest in the shelter of God, we are fortified by the Spirit of God and the promises of the Word. We are encompassed around by the presence of God and provided with peace that passes all understanding in all our circumstances. Christian life is a series of difficult experiences because we are sent out like sheep among the wolves. We are like the lily among the thorns in this world. But we enjoy the shelter of God in the shadow of His divine love, care, grace and compassion. We are assured that the tussles of this world are but for a short time and that we will go into our permanent abode where the wiles of the enemy will not penetrate. Today we have the privilege, opportunity and prerogative to live in this great and wonderful shelter of God and enjoy the coolness of His shadow for the comfort of our souls.

Dear reader, in this hopeless world, there is hope for you because you are a child of the King. He knows that you have trouble in this world, but you are not sent out alone to suffer all of these troubles. When you are troubled, your Lord feels the trouble and wants to provide you with a shelter under His shadows. He invites and admonishes you to go to His shelter and take rest even though you are in the midst of the gushing heat of this world. But your opportunity to enjoy a time of rest and peace during this sojourn depends on your willingness to go to the shelter provided by the Lord and enjoy the cool and refreshing shadow which is His presence. You and I need to take the step of faith and walk right into the shadow of the Lord where He blesses us with all the blessings of the heavenly places. He fills you with all the goodness that your soul needs to revive your sagging spirit. He fills your heart with the peace that passes all understanding. He reminds you of all His promises which are being fulfilled one by one day after day. He strengthens you to fight your battles in life against the stark realities of the holy war you are engaged in. He encourages you to keep marching forward by depending on all the goodness that are spread before you on the table of feast even in the midst of difficulties and battles. He enables you to rest in the midst of turmoil and experience the truth that you have Jesus in all you go through and to see you through all your situations. So, dear friend, it is time you cheer up and wake up to the sublime truth of the presence of the Lord which is your shield, shelter and shadow in times of troubles and at all times when you walk with Him.

Song of Songs 2:3 - Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

Thought for Today
The sweetness and coolness of the shadow of the Almighty takes away the brutal heat of this world from our souls.



Friday, April 22, 2011

A MIGHTY DELIVERER AT ALL TIMES!!

A MIGHTY DELIVERER AT ALL TIMES!

Verse for Today: Friday, April 22, 2011
Psalms 116:8 - For You, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

God's people face three formidable situations here on earth which try to prevent them from praising God. One is the fear of death which the enemy plants in our souls through circumstances. The enemy of our soul is a murderer and a thief and he comes only to steal, kill and destroy. He will try to create a fear and anguish in our hearts about our soul. He wants us to forget that we are eternally secure in Jesus and that weather we live or die on earth, we live for ever. The enemy tries to take away our hope in the Lord about our future and creates deep distress about our lives. He also tries to create or manipulate our circumstances which will push us into distress in our souls because of the disappointments and frustrations we face and make us cry over our losses of one kind or another. Thus we cry over a lot of the spilt milk of opportunities and material gains. We might also cry over the pain and suffering that we encounter in life. We also face situations of temptations which make us guilty as a result of stumbling over small or big things and take away our credibility in the community in which we try to build up a testimony for the Lord. But this is not the end of the rope for the people of God. They can go to their Lord who takes away their fears and tears, and prevent them from stumbling if they depend on the strength and grace of our Lord. He extends forgiveness for our stumbling if we confess it to Him. The Lord has enough grace available for us at His presence if we go to Him in prayer and enjoy His deliverance from all the snares of the enemy of our souls. The enemy is aided by the world and our own flesh sometimes work as the enemy from within to support the enemy of our souls to make us fall into these snares. But our Lord has deliverance for us and He is willing to help us out of these situations and make our lives full of joy and satisfaction.

Dear friend, are you haunted by fears which the enemy tries to create in your soul? Do you experience weeping and gnashing of teeth because of your unbearable circumstances? In your anguish, do you commit sins of faithlessness in your soul and thus stumble from ardent faith in your Lord? These are ways by which we are often pushed into deep distress, anguish and resultant hopelessness. But there is no need for the child of God to plunge into despair. There is deliverance from every anguish in the presence of the Lord. He died for us on the cross of Calvary to take away all our anguishes and distress which come from the sinful nature that we have all fallen into. He took away death and fear of death from us by dying for us. He cried on the cross, to take away our tears of guilt, failure and loss. He gave us His Spirit to be our guide and teacher so that we would not stumble in our daily walk. But for enjoying the deliverance from the Lord, we need to go to Him in prayer. When we are in His presence, the Lord turns our fears into joyful singing. He takes away our daily tears and gives us joy unspeakable. He keeps our feet from stumbling by giving us His Word of instructions as a light and a lamp for our feet and path. So let us go to Him today for strength to overcome the snares of fear, tears and stumbling which we are confronted with. But if we do not avail ourselves of these great ministries our Lord performs for us each day, we would continue to be in fear, tears about our circumstances and stumble on the way. Let us seek His daily deliverance and enjoy it in His presence which would cause us to praise Him.

Psalms 34:4 - I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Thought for Today
The mighty arm of the Lord is abundantly powerful to remove all the fears, tears and falling for His children if they are willing to depend on Him.



Thursday, April 21, 2011

THERAPY FOR CRUSHED SPIRITS!!

THERAPY FOR CRUSHED SPIRITS!

Verse for Today: Thursday, April 21, 2011
Psalms 34:18 - The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

When we face unbearable situations and as we become like prisoners of our circumstances, it often breaks our hearts. These situations come from various corners like loss of health, job, finances and friends, lack of peace in the family, ditching by dear ones, gossip, conflicts created by close associates and the like. When we are tossed around by such situations and if it happens at totally unexpected times and from totally unexpected corners, we become overwhelmed and experience heaviness of hearts brokenness of our spirits. Sometimes our failures in life and the negative consequences of decisions we made in good faith lead us to break our hearts. We also experience broken-heartedness when we fall into horrible sins of commission and omission and when the Spirit of God convicts us of such sins which have broken the heart of God. At such times we would experience a crushed spirit and find ourselves in a tight corner without any place to go to or any person to turn to. Such were the situations of David when everyone was against him and he had no place to turn to. But he trusted in God and sought after Him to help him out of the tight corners of life. God answered his prayers and honored his contrite and crushed spirit, and saved him from all his troubles. God gave David the comfort from His Spirit and strength from His presence to face his situations with maturity, patience and wisdom. God forgave his failures and protected him from all the enemies who encompassed around him to annihilate David. He was able to get healing for his emotional wounds through the touch of God's hands.

Dear reader, are you faced with tough situations which have broken your heart and crushed your spirit? Is the burden you are carrying too heavy and unbearable? Are you tired of carrying the heavy load and feel hopelessness in your soul? God wants to speak to you today through the experience of David who went through attacks of all sorts from all corners. He had no support from any one around him. He was hated, despised and rejected by all around. He experienced threat to life and security. There seemed to be no future and hope for David. But when he surrendered himself and all his situations to the Lord, David was able to experience deliverance from the Lord. Even when none of his dear ones were near him, David experienced the nearness and presence of the Lord. He was enabled by the Lord to caste all his cares upon Him and relax even in the midst of the greatest turmoil in life. The Lord touched him and healed his broken spirit and strengthened his faith. When David experienced the peace of God in His holy presence, he was able to forget all his troubles and to hold on to the Lord and His promises to him. When he confessed his nothingness and total depravity before the Lord, he was able to get deliverance from all his troublesome situations. Today you and I can experience the presence and deliverance of the same Lord if we go to Him and caste all our cares upon Him. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will wipe our tears and take away our fears. He will revive our sagging and crushing spirits and strengthen our faith. The Lord will make us confident in His power and strength to face the difficult situations and come out victorious. When we experience the deliverance of the Lord, it will cause us to praise Him irrespective of circumstances.

Psalms 34:4 - I sought the Lord and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Thought for Today
The touch of the Lord will heal us of our broken hearts and crushed spirits.



Wednesday, April 20, 2011

COMPASSIONATE AND GRACIOUS LORD!!

COMPASSIONATE AND GRACIOUS LORD!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Psalms 103:8 - The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

The more we meditate on the attributes of the Lord, the more reasons we will find to praise Him for who He really is and what He does for us. King David found the Lord to be compassionate, gracious and full of lovingkindness. David knew these from his personal experiences. When David was lonely and isolated, the Lord showed compassion to him, brought him out of it and made him to live among the people as their king. When he committed sin, the Lord showed him grace which he did not merit. He forgave David and restored him. David knew that the Lord was slow to anger to him for all his disobedience and dealt with him with mercy and patience. When David was fearful of the enemy and had serious problem of insecurity, the Lord strengthened him and took away all his fears. These experiences made David to sing to the Lord from the bottom of his heart. His songs were not mere verbatim, but thoughts which emanated from a grateful heart full of praise to the Lord. David's songs of praise are a great challenge to us today to get to know the Lord intimately and experience Him in our daily lives. When we thus meditate on what He has done for us, we will realize that we exist only because of His compassion and lovingkindness. In spite of our weaknesses and foolishness, the Lord bears with us, shows mercy and extends His grace to us. In His mercy the Lord did not give us punishment for our sins of commissions and omissions. In His grace, He forgave us and gave us abundance of chances to get back to His track to serve Him.

Dear reader, have you lately taken time to get to know the Lord intimately? As you get to know Him, you will be aware of the extent of mercy, grace and lovingkindness that He shows to you day by day to keep you on his track? Do you realize that all that you are and have been are only because of the grace and mercy of the Lord? In spite of our failures, it has pleased Him to make use of us for His glory. In spite of our disobedience, like that of Jonah, Samson and Peter, He still extends His grace and mercy to us to give us more and more opportunities to serving Him. When we are aware of the benevolence of the Lord, we ought to take to heart serious commitment to following Him in full obedience and love. When we continue to waste away the opportunities He gives us to serving Him, we waste the rewards that would have been ours. When we do not touch the lives of other people for the sake of the Lord, we loose the opportunity to impact other lives. These are all eternal losses for us. But still God is pleased to forgive the wastage we have caused to Him and give us newer opportunities. Perhaps we are so much involved in our daily affairs, needs and search after the means to meet our future needs that we do not have the time to get to know the Lord and understand His plans for us. We thus become like the soldiers who are entangled in the affairs of the world and involved in our daily cares instead of being in the active service of our commander-in-chief. We need to know that when we fight the battles for the Lord, He will meet all our daily needs, and enable us to continue to fight for Him.

Psalms 103:17 - But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children.

Thought for Today
The Lord deals with His children in compassion, mercy and grace to give them opportunity to humble themselves and be grateful before Him.



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

OBEDIENCE - THE MARK OF TRUE LOVE!!

OBEDIENCE - THE MARK OF TRUE LOVE

Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Genesis 6:22 - Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

In a world which is keen to find ways to deviate from the order established by God, it is heartening to find Noah, a man who was willing to pay a price to obey all that God commanded. He was destined to be condemned and destroyed along the rest of the disobedient lot. The only way for him to save himself and his family was to obey God and willingly accept the plan of salvation God had provided. It was totally a plan of God as it originated from Him. It was a complete plan in itself and there was no scope for anything to be added to it by any one. Any degree of the noncompliance of God's plan would have ended up in destruction. Every detail had to be obeyed to the last syllable. The workers who helped Noah in building the ark could not add any of their ideas to God's plan as told them by Noah. God's plan for the deliverance of man was flawless as has been proved by subsequent events. There was provision for sustenance and multiplication. The supplies were sufficient until they would find the fruit of the earth through farming after the flood. Quantity and quality of supplies met all the needs in the best possible manner. There was no need for any competition or quarrel because of the sufficiency of arrangements. All had enough space to maneuver and enjoy the security of salvation prepared by God. The ark also gave the reassurance to the travelers that if the ark was sufficient for some time, the earth would be sufficient for the rest of the time. If they were willing to be content with the ark, they would be given the new earth with new opportunities and possibilities shortly. The obedience of Noah in making all arrangements as instructed by God and Noah's total allegiance and surrender of all his human faculties to God ended up in the blessing of all humanity and the living creatures.

Dear friend, if you are burdened about how to live peacefully and with contentment in a world of competition and rebellion, you can take a lesson from the events which centered around the flood at the time of Noah. For those who look to the Lord for a way out of their difficulties, He will provide a way out at the right time. But it will be available only to those who are wiling to take God's plan unquestionably and without adding any thing to it. If we are dependent on God totally, His help will come to meet all our needs totally and at the right time. Our total dependence on God is the allegiance God expects from us in our daily lives. This allegiance cannot be lip service, but a matter of our will. When we obey God totally and are willing to pay a price to obey Him, He will honor our obedience and surrender to His will by meeting our needs in times of difficulty. But if we do not obey, we are telling God that we want to go our way. If we are determined to go our way and still expect God to help us out, it is inconsistent thinking. We cannot keep our feet in two canoes at the same time. Either we should go out all the way for God's plan and programs for our sustenance or we should obey our human instincts and do what our human wisdom leads us to do. After doing what we want to do, we cannot ask as to why God is not doing any thing to help us out. God's deliverance and help are available only to those who are willing to obey Him and follow His pathway. He wants all His children to do His will unquestionably. We see that when God's children obey Him totally, God showers blessings upon them. These blessings are basically spiritual, with provisions for our daily needs so that we will be able to continue to look unto Him for our daily needs. This is how God as the King of this universe wants His children to look unto Him for all their needs day after day just as Noah, his family and the living creatures continued in the ark.

Isaiah 1:19 - If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.

Thought for Today
Unconditional obedience is the mark of our true love for God and it is the precondition for God's blessings upon His people.




Monday, April 18, 2011

ECHOES OF FAITH!

ECHOES OF FAITH


Verse for Today: Monday, April 18, 2011


Genesis 5:22 - And after Enoch became the father of Methuselah, he walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.


Enoch was a man of faith and he knew God face to face. They had wonderful personal interactions with each other. So when he had a son born to him, he knew the prophetic significance of that son. This is reflected in the name Enoch gave to his son. His name meant that when he dies, the judgment of God will come upon the sinful world. This prophetic message from God made Enoch fear God and so he built up his life of faith in such a way as to walk with God every day of his life. Enoch walked with God in spite of his other family responsibilities. This spiritual walk enabled him to discharge all his family responsibilities. In all that he did, Enoch was true to his calling and was faithful in obeying the God who had revealed Himself to him. His walk with God was a walk of faith because one could walk with the invisible God only by faith. He enjoyed the presence of God in all that he did and kept enriching his life through the messages he received from God. This would have helped him to correct his ways each day and strengthened his testimony. The way God worked in his generation is a great example for us in that if we also walk with God, He will bless us spiritually and strengthen our life of faith and trust in God. Enoch's relationship and interactions with God made him a prophet and a preacher in his generation which would have definitely reached the ears of his great grandson Noah and made him also a preacher. If we are willing to take God at His word and walk with Him, He will definitely speak to us and through us to our generations and make them also serve the same God we serve.


Dear friend, how is your daily walk? Are you regularly and systematically walking with God and interacting with Him like Enoch and Abraham? Are you listening to Him keenly and waiting patiently for Him to speak to you on a wide variety of subjects which are important to God? The more you listen to God, the more you will echo God's messages through your life and speech. When the presence of God fills your life with His glory, it will transcend to others, and most especially among the members of your family generations. If you walk with God daily, you will know the mind of God through His word and will then be able to speak to your generations about God's agenda for the times to come. You and your generations will then be strengthened to live a life of faith and fear in Him. Enoch walked with God for 300 years by faith and God met all his needs and blessed his generations. His great grandson Noah preached for 120 years and all that time he was also walking by faith. Noah found it possible to believe the God of His great grandfather Enoch and his grandfather Methuselah. Noah's life impacted all the generations which followed even up to this day because he was a man of faith just as his great grandfather Enoch. The same God is beside us and is desirous of walking with us today to make our lives a great blessing if we are willing to take Him at His word. He has great plans for us and will reveal it to us as we walk with Him on a daily basis. It is a great challenge to walk with God in a busy world in modern times, but if we are willing to pay the price to want to walk with Him, the Lord will walk with us in the narrow pathways of life and make us a blessing to many.


Hebrews 11:5 - By faith, Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.


Thought for Today

The impact of a life of faith will have its reverberations for generations to come.


Sunday, April 17, 2011

IMPENETRABLE FIREWALL!!

IMPENETRABLE FIREWALL


Verse for Today: Sunday, April 17, 2011


Psalms 18:2 - The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge; He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


Experience is the best teacher to help us learn great lessons to keep going in situations which are similar or tougher. We learn lessons in faith through tough situations. Our troubles and tribulations are great learning experiences designed by the Lord to teach us lessons which prove to us that the troubles in our lives are not to destroy us but to build us up. Every child of God goes through such experiences. Over and above the troubles, it is hard to face the enemy who comes to tell us that had God loved us, we would not have experienced such difficulties. Some fall into this trap of the enemy and plunge into despair and depression and thus ruin their lives. But it is at such times of physical and emotional attacks by the enemy that we need to stand up to our convictions that the Lord would never leave us nor forsake us. Even when we go through the dark valleys of life, the Lord would be with us as He has done in the past. This is why Jesus Christ is the same in the past, present and the future. His compassion and concern for us is the same irrespective of time, situations and intensity of trouble. He is the Lord of all times, and above all times and all situations. He controls all the elements in this universe and so all troubles constituting any of the elements also come under His purview. His hands are on the thermostat of all that we go through and will control the heat to make it a learning experience for us and not a burning experience. This would make us praise Him along with David before, during and after the troubles that we face.


Dear friend, is your burden heavy today? Are you carrying it all alone? Is your situation beyond your capacity to handle? Is the pain increasing day by day and becoming unbearable? Your Lord who has gone through the most intense pain for you at Gethsemane and Golgotha is with you as you go through intense testing and struggle. There were times when all who observed David thought he would never come out of his troubles and become king of Israel. No one thought that he would have the capacity to overcome the struggles that he was faced with. There was practically no scope for hope because all his enemies were far superior to him in strength and tactics. He was an untrained warrior for God whereas his enemies were trained and experienced soldiers of the world. But David trusted in God who was his rock, fortress, deliverer, refuge, shield, stronghold and horn of salvation. As he progressed from one struggle to another, His Lord proved to him that He was the most trustworthy bulwark for Him who never changes when all around David changed. In the most hopeless situations, the Lord met with David and gave him divine protection. The invisible God was with David in all circumstances and gave him victory. God's glorious attributes worked as the most impenetrable firewall around David. From hopelessness, David emerged as the hope of Israel. God proved to David that His mercy and lovingkindness would never depart from him even if the whole world forsakes him. This God is our Lord who is with us today and all the days of our lives and He will be our shield and deliverer in all our troubles. He is asking us today to learn from David a great lesson to trust Him.


Psalms 48:14 - For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.


Thought for Today

The invisible God demonstrates His attributes for His children as an impenetrable firewall around them.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

FAITH AND THE APPOINTED TIME!!

FAITH AND THE APPOINTED TIME!


Verse for Today: Saturday, April 16, 2011


Genesis 18:14 - Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.


A great war is going on in the world for centuries between faith and unbelief. Faith is supported by trust, whereas unbelief is strengthened by doubt, confusion and mistrust. Faith goes by hope in the Lord and unbelief goes by circumstantial evidences of likely failures. Faith believes in the unseen whereas unbelief always wants to follow sight. When faith marches forward against time, place and capacity, unbelief travels by time-bound targets and proofs. When faith knocks at the door, the child of God opens the door and receives faith with praise whereas when unbelief knocks at the door, he always calls Jesus to answer the door. Jesus is always the answer to chase unbelief away. Faith is welcomed with trust, commitment, loyalty and allegiance based on the Word of God. Faith is capable of shattering the greatest degree of unbelief and doubt because faith comes in and through the word of God which is eternally secured in heaven. When a child of God is hesitating to believe and is tossed around by circumstantial evidences of negativity, faith comes to ask if any thing is too hard for the Lord. Faith is full of vision about the capacity of the Lord to fulfill His promises. Faith has an appointed time for the promises to be fulfilled which is set by the author and finisher of faith. Faith gives a divine guarantee and no one else is able to add to the strength of such a guarantee. Faith challenges us to take a step forward with the Lord who is the guarantor of all His promises. Faith is preconditioned with unconditional surrender of our will to the Lord who will fulfill His will in our lives at the right time.


Dear friend, is the world trying to ask you for evidence that your faith will work at the right time? Are you tossed around with doubt and confusion about what you are hoping for? Remember, our Lord is not the author of confusion. His Spirit is not a Spirit of doubt and hesitation to believe. The Lord has promised to meet your needs and answer your puzzles at His appointed time. Isn't it wonderful to know that the Almighty has set an appointed time for a puny creature like you to get your answers? If you and I can believe and trust this Lord for all our eternity, can we not trust Him for our tomorrows? If He is capable of transforming our eternal curse into eternal blessing, how much more is He capable of meeting our mundane needs on a daily basis? Our Lord has fulfilled His promises to Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Nehemiah, Daniel, Paul and millions of His precious children in the past. He proved His faithfulness to His children all through recorded history. He healed where people were sick and fed those who were hungry. He gave water in unusual circumstances. He secured victory without chariots and horses. He made the sun to stop and rain to come down to facilitate His children's needs. He stopped storms, winds and waves and shut the flames and the mouths of lions in order to fulfill His purposes for His precious children. He is with us today and He knows all our needs. He has set an appointed schedule for our needs to be met and will do so without fail. The answer to the question by the angel of the Lord as to whether there is any thing too hard for the Lord is always a big "NO". Yes, He can do all things and will do all what is required for you and me today in mysterious ways. Some things will be done today and some other things will be done in the following days. He is the surety for all that He has promised which are all for our blessings today and the rest of our days.


Job 42:1-2 - Then Job replied to the Lord: "I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted".


Thought for Today

Blessed are those who put their absolute faith in the Lord Jesus and wait for His appointed time with patience and peace.

Friday, April 15, 2011

BITTERNESS TURNS TO TASTE OF JOY!!

BITTERNESS TURNS TO TASTE OF JOY!


Verse for Today: Friday, April 15, 2011

Psalms 34:8 - O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!


Only those who have tasted something special can encourage and invite others to taste it for full enjoyment. They speak out of their experience which is rich with the taste that they declare to the others. They have the boldness to share their taste with others and are sure that others will also enjoy what they have enjoyed. This is the essence of those who tasted the Lord in their lives. They came from situations where they had to taste bitterness and were in hopeless situations like that of David. All along, life gave him sour and nauseating experiences in the hands of his enemies. But when he trusted God, every thing changed in his life. The enemies were still around him, but in the midst of the darkest valleys and devouring wild animals, the Lord gave him peace and joy and delivered him from the most hopeless situations. When all hope was gone, there was still abundance of hope for him in the Lord. Those around him felt that his story was going to end with darkest scenes. But when David trusted God, the darkness around him turned to bright sunshine. In the most trying and painful circumstances, God sent help and delivered him out of all his troubles. So David's words challenge us today to boldly taste the Lord and experience the same peace, grace, patience, mercy and compassion that the Lord shows to His beloved children. The same peace, joy and love from God experienced by David are made available to us today no matter how dark our circumstances are.


Dear reader, are you going through tough and rough patches in life today and feeling hopeless? Remember, you live in a hopeless and dark world. But if you trust the Lord, He will give you a future with hope and confidence in life. No circumstance is too hard for the Lord because He can rule your situations and overrule any peril or pestilence from your way. He gives abundance of grace at the right time and in the right measure. You might think that no body can deliver you from the present situation of turmoil that you are in, but nothing is beyond the capacity of the Lord to handle. This truth will pervade in all your circumstances all through your life and on all your days here on earth if you put your faith in the power of the Lord to deliver you. These trials are all opportunities the Lord provides for you to taste the marvelous ways by which He leads and guides you. When you taste the experience of deliverance He provides, you will be able to taste His deep love and compassion towards you. Those who taste the Lord once fill their lives with Him and the joy that He gives to keep going. They receive the holy boldness and confidence from Him to face any difficulties in life. They can tell the world around them about the sweetness of life experiences that the Lord gives to His children and invite them also to this life of joy and hope in the Lord. It enables us to take refuge in the Lord in all circumstances and situations. While we do so, His Spirit fills us with His joy which will be our joy to keep going and growing in our trust in Him. This challenge to taste the Lord is available for us today and every day of our lives to find in Him the deliverance that we all need. It is available for us today for the asking in prayer and for our willingness to trust in Him.


Psalms 23:6 - Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.


Thought for Today

The goodness of the Lord will establish the taste of the joy of the Lord in the lives of His children as they experience His deliverance.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

HUMBLE AND SIMPLE GET LIFTED UP!!

HUMBLE AND SIMPLE GET LIFTED UP!

Verse for Today: Thursday, Aprl 14, 2011
Psalms 116:6 - The Lord preserves the simple-hearted; I was brought low and He saved me.

The world holds the feeling that simple hearted people are weak, unintelligent and not smart. The world expects successful people to be smart in their conversation and manners. Any one who is simple and straightforward in their dealings is considered a failure and a misfit in a world which is in a rat race for success, popularity and prestige. But the Lord is looking for humble and simple people who are ever aware of their own inadequacies and weaknesses. They are broken in their spirits and they depend on the Lord and His power to exist in this world. They are not seeking to please man, but would only want to please God at any cost. They are not trying to measure up to the rich, popular and prestigious people of this world. They are not interested in imitating the flamboyant lifestyle of the worldly, but would rather imitate the humility of the Lord Jesus who had no place to lay His head when foxes had their holes and birds had their nests. They do not retaliate when the world brings them down and declares them to be losers. They rejoice when their names are tarnished or when others falsely speak all kinds of evil against them. But the Lord honors their simplicity in all that they do. Even though they are considered low by the world, the Lord considers them great because they are His precious children. He saves them from the low estate that they are brought in by the world. He delivers them from all the troubles that the world put them in. He rescues and delivers them and put their feet on the Rock of Ages.

Simplicity is a trait that our Lord Jesus portrayed in His earthly life. It was the life style that Joseph and Daniel followed while they served both in low and high places in the world. Simplicity was a great virtue that Apostle Paul had in spite of the fact that he was one of the most learned persons in his generation. Down through the ages, eminent persons left all the prestige that they had in the world and became simple in their behavior, speech, dress, possessions, facial expressions, eating habits, dwelling places and connections with higher-ups for the sake of the cross of Jesus Christ and pursued low levels of life. They will all be honoured by the Lord at the Judgement Seat (Bema). The Lord will lift them up in His presence and only then even their fellow saints will know their greatness. When we all get to heaven and see the glory and the greatness of the Lord Jesus in its full spectrum, we will see that even those who receive crowns from Him will put it all at His feet and fall prostrate to worship Him. So if you are brought down by the enemy of your soul by using other humans or some manipulated circumstances, there is no need for you to feel depressed. Instead, you and I need to rejoice when we are resented and rejected by the world. Our Lord will lift us up and deliver us from the snares of the world. He will see to it that we are cared for in mysterious ways so that we would have a full and abundant life for the glory of the Lord here on earth. Let us await the glorious day when He will truly lift us up and reward us for all that we have rejected in this world for the sake of our Lord and His old rugged cross.

Matthew 11:29 - Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Thought for Today
If we are not genuinely humble and simple before God, He will have to teach us humility in the hard way.



Wednesday, April 13, 2011

RIGHT RESPONSE FOR RIGHT ATTITUDE!!

RIGHT RESPONSE FOR RIGHT ATTITUDE


Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Psalms 34:6 - This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved Him out of all his troubles.


Our attitude to both our own self and to God are equally important when we pray to God for help. When we truly confess our nothingness to God, we qualify for our prayers to be answered. God does not answer the proud who are self-sufficient. It is also important for us to know who God is as we go to Him in prayer. We need to recognize Him as the Owner of all that exist and the One who has all the resources at His disposal. Our God always wants to give because He knows that we are needy and at the same time He has all that we all need to meet our needs. This realization makes His children go to Him, confessing our poverty and nothingness. When we admit our total depravity, He hears our prayers and gives us all that we need to live a contented life here on earth to serve Him. When we are totally helpless and there is not even a straw to hold on to, we go to the Lord in the depth of our weakness and powerlessness. This is the point of total brokenness in our souls when we have nothing to claim as our merit. So when we pray in the spirit of true brokenness and emptiness, we qualify to be heard by God. He has promised to deliver such of His children from all their troubles. God knows that His children have a lot of troubles in this world because they live in the enemy territory and have to confront the enemy and his tactics each moment of our lives. We do not need to fight the enemy in our own strength, but in the strength of God which He is willing to give us to empower us to meet the challenges in life.


Dear friend, are you calling on to the Lord for all your needs and at all times when you are in trouble? Are your prayers coming out of the true realization of your nothingness and His abundance? Do you recognize that you are in the enemy territory and that you are faced with troubles of various kinds and that the Lord alone is strong enough to deliver you from these adversities? If you go to Him in prayer after confessing your powerlessness, He will give you His power. If you lack faith, it will be given to you to fill your heart with hope and trust in God and His power. If you lack strength to stand up against the wiles of the enemy, the Lord will give it to you through His Spirit and Word. But it presupposes the experiences of Abraham, Jacob, Isaiah, Paul and scores of others who confessed how insignificant they were and how strong and mighty their God was. David was in such a situation of trouble all around him, even after he was anointed to be king of Israel. He was the king without a throne and a crown. His kingdom could not be ruled by David because of the trouble he had from within and without. His wife, father-in-law and the neighbouring kings were all against him, not because he did any thing against them. He often had no one to support him and no place to go, to hide from the enemies. In such moments, David had the presence of God to go to. He was often in highly precarious situations and within striking distance of the enemies, and thought that he would soon be annihilated. But David prayed, the Lord heard His prayers and delivered him from all his enemies to finally establish his kingdom, throne and crown. This was because David was chosen by God and he was a man after God's own heart who often confessed his nothingness and God's all-sufficiency. Let us today draw nigh unto the God of David, confess our total depravity and His abundance and ask Him for His strength in the midst of all our troubles. He will surely listen to us and answer our prayers to give us deliverance and victory.


Psalms 34:17 - The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.


Thought for Today

When our hearts are right with God, our prayers will work as windows through which God will shower blessings upon us.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

HIS INSTRUCTION FOR MY WALK!!

HIS INSTRUCTION FOR MY WALK


Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Psalms 25:12 - Who is the man who fears the Lord? (The Lord) will instruct him in the way he should choose.


The fear of the Lord is the expression of our love and respect for the Lord and not because we think He will punish us. Even though the Lord is a consuming fire for those who do not receive the salvation He offers to them, for His children He is the loving Father. If we know how to respect and fear our human parents, we all ought to know how to express our love and respect to our Heavenly Father. Our respect and love for God in our hearts is expressed in our behavior. Perhaps the external actions of religiosity might be sufficient for us to impress the people around us, but that is totally insufficient for God who knows our motives, intentions and hidden agenda. If we are not truly and intentionally fearful of our Lord, He would not value any of our external expressions of religiosity. He looks into our hearts, understands our motives and deals with and in us accordingly. So when God sees our sincerity and the way we show eagerness to obey His commandment, He knows that we are ready to walk in the pathways He has prepared for us. That is when He shows us His ways that He has chosen for us. We should realize that we have the freedom to go our way that is pleasing to us, but we alone will be responsible for all the consequences of our selfish ways. We see in the pages of the Bible the life stories of great children of God who picked up sad consequences of their disobedience to God. So there is a vital question from God today asking us to express our true motives of love and respect to Him and His cause. If we confess our deep desire to do what He wants us to do and walk in the ways that He wants to show us, He will certainly show us the way. This is how we will know how to identify the will of God for our lives.


Dear friend, are you a true seeker of the ways of the Lord in your life? Is your desire to know God's ways a matter of your religiosity or is it a matter of deep conviction, desire and love you have for God and His ways? God reveals His perfect will to those who are keen to know and put God's will into practice in their lives. It presupposes true devotion and reverence to God for who He really is and what He wants to do with your life. If you desire to do His will and seek to know it, you will have the privilege to ask Him to reveal it to you. He unfolds His will to His children and enables them to work it out in their lives for His glory. He will give you His power and strength to obey His will and will enable you to glorify His name through the fulfillment of His will in your life. His ways are perfect and it is for your ultimate good. His desire is that your life becomes useful to Him to glorify His name here on earth. He opens your eyes to see the way He wants you to go through. There might be difficulties and battles as you follow His instructions because the enemy of your soul would always try to slow you down or stop you altogether from following the path of God. But during those times of intense battles, the Lord will give you all the strength that you need to resist the enemy's tactics and follow in the ways He wants you to tread. It is a wonderful experience to receive the instructions of the Lord and to be able to follow Him in His path. As we travel with Him, our weary souls will be revived and our sagging spirits will be rejuvenated by Him. We will enjoy our walk with Him and will not bother about the weariness of the heat of the way. He meets all our spiritual and human needs as we go along with Him. Today there is an invitation for us to enjoy the opportunity to walk with Him in divine fellowship.

Psalms 18:36 - You enlarge my steps under me, and my steps have not slipped.


Thought for Today

The steps of those who walk according to the instructions and guidance of the Lord will not slip as they enjoy the thrill of walking in fellowship with Him.

Monday, April 11, 2011

SET APART FOR ANSWERS TO PRAYERS!

SET APART FOR ANSWERS TO PRAYERS!


Verse for Today: Monday, April 11, 2011

Psalms 4:3 - Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.


We are often challenged by the world around us about our faith in the unseen God and in His unlimited power to deliver us from the difficult circumstances we go through. At that time, we are given confidence and courage from the word of God. Our testimony is on the basis of what we have experienced, heard, understood and believed to be true and also on the basis of the experience of scores of God's children through the centuries. The Spirit of God who lives in us will give us the sure word of faith that our God knows us well and we are His special people in this world. Our faith is strengthened by God to enable us to be bold in testifying to the unbelieving world around us that our God has set us apart before the foundation of the world was laid. He had seen us in and through Jesus Christ and designed a life of faith for us which He unfolds one day at a time. He allows us to live that life by faith and trust in the infinite grace and providence of God which is given to us as per our need. Our times are in His hands and there is a divine purposefulness about our lives. This truth is known only to those who know the secrets of God as revealed to them by His Spirit on a daily basis. We can thus testify to the faithfulness of our God in identifying us, designing our lives and in providing the resources for His plan to be fulfilled in our lives in a systematic way. He has prepared everything for our lives and gives it to us in needed increments on a step by step basis as we pray and trust Him to give it to us. In the midst of enemies, the Lord anoints us with His oil and allows us to feast from the table He sets before us. His table is full of heavenly resources for our use on a daily basis to the extent that our cup runs over with His blessings. When we experience it daily, we can challenge the people around us to find it out for their sake the way our Lord has set us apart to hear our prayers and answer us in times of need.


Dear friend, do you face any challenge from the world around you about your faith in the unseen God? Do they press you for evidence that your God is alive and works in and for you? Your life of faith itself is the greatest evidence that your God is alive and that He is concerned about His children. He proves to us each day as He hears our prayers and answers us at the right time in the right way. His ways are far greater than ours and His provisions for us are far beyond our expectations. He gives more than we ever ask for and meets our daily needs because we are His precious children. God being our King treats us as princes and princesses. We are given a royal treatment. We are exposed to a heavenly life with heavenly peace, grace, joy and love which work wonders in our lives in a world which is against us. When we call, our God answers us. As we pray, He already has answers to our prayers because He knows all our needs in advance. All we need to do is to exercise our faith in asking. When the world around us sows the seeds of unbelief to depress us, we need to remind ourselves of the truth that our Lord lives for us and all His resources are for us only. We are a set apart people for God and all that happens in our lives has to be for His glory and honor. When we live a godly life, it is His character that He helps us to demonstrate in our lives. It is He who sets us apart as unique people with unique characteristics, and He works it all out in us as we commit ourselves to Him and His cause. Our prayer to Him is the evidence that we are not self-sufficient and that we depend on Him for all our needs. So the Lord has set us apart as heirs of all that He has in Heaven and appointed us to have the privilege to ask Him so that He can give according to His will. So let us today continue to boldly testify to the faithfulness of this God who has given us all that we need in the past and has promised that He will lead us all the days of our lives victoriously.


Psalms 34:15 - The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.


Thought for Today

The evidence of our total dependence on the Lord for all our needs is our sole trust in Him alone in all circumstances.


Sunday, April 10, 2011

DIVINE STRENGTH FOR ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!!

DIVINE STRENGTH FOR ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!


Verse for Today: Sunday, April 10, 2011


Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through (Christ) who gives me strength.


We know from experience that only the weak needs strength. But only those who admit their weaknesses seek and find strength because only such people will go to the true sources of strength. Apostle Paul is a good example of a servant of God who was willing to go through tough experiences in life for the sake of the gospel of Christ. He had to experience poverty and depravity of the basic means of life. But because of the love he had for Christ, he experienced the strength of Christ to suffer extreme difficulties in life. Usually when people go through such difficulties, they grumble and complain. But Paul did not complain and he willingly went through suffering. He testified that he was able to go through it all not because he had the capacity or strength, but because Christ strengthened him to go through it all without murmur. When he was in the prison after physical torture, he was able to sing songs and praise God. This ability to sing in the midst of serious physical injuries and in bondage in a prison cell was given to him by Christ through the Holy Spirit. It was a great gift from God to be able to suffer for Christ's sake and go through it all without loosing one's composure. In his great passion and love for Christ, he prayed for such strength which was given to him in abundance. Such grace to enjoy the strength to go through adverse circumstances boldly is a special gift from God which is available to us also for the asking.


Dear friend, are you going through adverse circumstances which are difficult and painful? Do you find it difficult to cope with such challenging experiences? Are you often tempted to complain and develop self-pity because of the intensity of your situation? Remember, when your Lord went through sufferings for us, He never complained or subjected Himself to self-pity. Apostle Paul went through intense sufferings for the sake of the cross of Christ, but he received abundance of strength from heaven to go through it all. Paul was treated unfairly and was falsely accused by the enemies of Gospel. So was Joseph in the Old Testament times. But they never wasted their strength to fight the opposing forces, but continued to do what they were entrusted to do by their Master. In times of great struggle, they received grace and strength to do what they were called upon to do. After they went through it all, they testified that there was never any shortage of grace and strength. So whether they had food or not, they were contented because of the strength they were given by God to face even starvation. This was the same when they went through loneliness in solitary confinement, intense physical torture and life situations of mean nature. But their God was with them and He gave them all the strength to go through it all and come out as victors over such situations. Difficulties could not depress them, because Christ had already won them over. This same grace is available for us today to face difficulties in our Christian life. No matter what we have to go through for the sake of the faith that we hold, our Lord will strengthen us and give us the grace to face all circumstances with boldness and humility. So dear friend, no matter what you are going through today, you can enjoy the grace and strength from the Lord to face any of your situations. He is near you and He understands your situations. He comes to you with all of the heavenly resources of patience, joy, peace and endurance in all your difficulties to come out victorious like Paul and Joseph.


Psalms 18:32 - It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.


Thought for Today

God's strength enables His children to cope with any situation with grace, courage and patience.