Wednesday, August 31, 2011

DELIVERANCE AND HELP FROM GOD!!

Deliverance and help from God!


Verse for Today: Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Psalms 72:12 – For He will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also and him who has no helper.

God is often named after His deeds in the lives of His children. When He delivers the needy people, He is the deliverer. When He responds to the cries of the helpless, He is the helper. When He lifts up those who are afflicted, oppressed and persecuted, He is called the Savior of the people. His love is illustrated as greater than that of the mother. He keeps His children under His shadow. He appears to His children at the right time they need Him. He is their tower of strength when they are weak. He carries the weak ones on His shoulders. He feeds the hungry with heavenly bread and drink so that they will not be hungry and thirsty again. He gives greatest satisfaction for His children so that they would not need to go to the broken cisterns of this world. He knows us so well as to know all our needs before we speak to Him about it. But He treats us as His beloved children and wants us to go to Him and tell Him all about it. He sees us when our hearts are broken and depressed and comes to wipe our tears. He comforts our hearts when our feelings are hurt because of what others do to us. He gives us confidence when our emotions sag. He brightens our cloudy horizons and makes us see the dawning of a new ray of hope to guide us to keep going. Down through the centuries, millions found the coolness of His shadows and enjoyed His green pastures. Our God is a personal God who deals with each of us according to our needs apart from all the goodness that He pours out on all the living beings. He is with those who are afflicted and relieves them of their sufferings. He comes to help the helpless and the poor in spirit. He hears our cries and comes down to help us in our agonies. He is the best Friend, Deliverer, Father, Comforter, Savior, Helper and Healer we can find for all our needs all the time. We are truly fortunate to be His children and it leaves us with the responsibility to enjoy our relationship with Him.

Dear friend, are you in need in the physical, emotional and spiritual realms of your life? Are you going through any physical or emotional affliction at the moment? Do you feel helpless to handle your life situations now? Is your surrounding cloudy and dark and preventing you from seeing into the future? Are you facing uncertainty about your future? No matter what your situation is, there is no need to fret about it because the best and the greatest help are available to you right now. That help comes from God who is your creator and redeemer. He knows all the conflicts you experience in your soul. He has seen the pain and misery that you are going through. He knows and sees how helpless you are in handling your situation and has come near you to intervene in your life. But He expects you to call unto Him for help. He will certainly hear you when you cry unto Him. He will do what is necessary to remove the darkness from your scenario. He will give you peace and assurance about your future as He handles it all for you. He will bring it to pass according to His plan for you if you are willing to surrender your life totally to Him. He wants you to trust Him to deliver you from your predicaments and put all your faith in Him and His might to strengthen you. We are not taking a chance when we trust the Lord because His help is certain and sure. When He has us fully in His hands through full surrender, He will demonstrate His power in us and fulfill His promises to us to help and sustain us in all our life experiences. Today He wants us to take Him at His Word that He will certainly hear us.

Psalms 32:7 – You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.


Thought for Today
The awareness of the availability of divine help, deliverance and support in our lives makes us broken before God and to confess our unworthiness to Him.



Tuesday, August 30, 2011

UNSHAKEN FAITH AND RELENTLESS HOPE!!

Unshaken faith and relentless hope!


Verse for Today: Tuesday, August 30, 2011


Psalms 71:14 – But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.


A casual look at the world reveals that the world has become a hopeless place. The more economic and business techniques experts employ, the more complicated the world economy would become. More summits have ended up in more conflicts and fights among the nations. Money power has failed to contain catastrophes. Individual lives have become battlefields of emotional entanglements. The technological revolution and globalization have not given us any hope to go forward. There is thus an air of hopelessness that prevails all around us today. In the midst of it all, those who look to the Lord have unshaken hope for the future. No matter what the complications in the world are, God’s children find hope in their lives because their lives are governed by the God of hope. When we put our hope in the Lord we can always look forward to a brighter tomorrow because our Lord controls our future. Because He is the Lord of our lives, we can enjoy the assurance of His plans for us. We can have peace in spite of calamities around us. We can have satisfaction when we trust in the Lord’s resources to meet our needs rather than in the diminishing resources of the world. We depend on His ways to go forward instead of the faulty ways of the world. When the promises of world leaders are found to be empty, we can find the unbroken and powerful promises of our Lord to sustain us. It helps us to keep praising Him as each day passes by with His abundant grace in every circumstance. This confidence is granted to us through the Word of the Lord which is planted in our hearts and the Spirit of God who indwells in us. He gives us confidence and courage in the wake of hopelessness everywhere. This hope makes us to praise the God of all our hope.

Dear friend, is the hopelessness around you put pressure on you and take you through the route of despair in life? Are you tossed around by the seeming dark and cloudy environment around you? But in this hopeless world, there is hope in the Lord Jesus. He is the hope of the world and in Him our future is secure. His grace is sufficient for every situation. He gives peace in troublesome situations. He bestows courage in times of despair to go forward. When we trust Him, He takes us forward and prepares our way. He removes hindrances and smoothen our pathways. Even when we cannot see any prospect to move forward, if we are submitted to His perfect will, our Lord will fulfill His plans for us. The times of the prophets of God like Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Malachi and others were times of great despair. But God put hope in their hearts to continue to serve Him without regard to consequences. Hope for them was not in any event or situation, but in their Lord and Master. Those who wait for Him are sure to renew their strength and fly at higher vistas like eagles. Joseph waited for Him for long and one day the doors of his dungeon opened to show him how the Lord fulfills his old dreams. God gave Isaac to Abraham when there was no hope. He put David on the throne in Jerusalem against all hope. He brought captives back to Israel and rebuilt their temple with its walls. He reinstated Mordecai at a seemingly hopeless moment. He gave Hanna, Rachel and Elizabeth children in hopeless situations. He put the life of Job back on its track when all hope was gone and proved that all things were possible with Him. He will at His time reestablish a kingdom here on earth as the Prince of Peace and put hope back in this hopeless world. He is our Lord in whom we can put our faith and hope in our dark and cloudy situations which prevail today in this hopeless world. It is a great privilege for us to enjoy hope in Him for a brighter tomorrow and praise Him for all that He will do for us in the days to come.

Psalms 31:24 – Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

Thought for Today
Ardent faith in the Lord fills us with relentless and undiminished hope in Him against all odds to take us forward.




Monday, August 29, 2011

RECEPTION FOR THE REJECTED!!

Reception for the Rejected!


Verse for Today: Monday, August 29, 2011


Psalms 68:5 – A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.


Among the scores of deprived people in this world are the fatherless and the widows who have no one to take care of them. There are people whose fathers deceased, and others whose fathers abandoned them. There are widows and then there are women who are rejected and abandoned by their husbands. As sad as these rejections are, the innocent victims suffer untold miseries in life. Many do not have any one to provide for their physical needs and to give direction, love and tender care which they so desperately desire and deserve. This is part of the unrighteousness that prevails in this world. There is no one to give justice to such victims who suffer. Humanly these victims have a hopeless case to pursue, but they are all welcomed by the Father who is in Heaven. He invites them to His presence so that they can experience the true love of a father and a lover. There the Father in Heaven fills their hearts with His love and care and pours His compassion into their hearts which will make them forget the loss of fatherly love in their lives. They can experience the tender love and care that a true lover of their souls will provide for them. He fills their hearts with His agape` love which is far greater than any human love. He gives them a sense of belongingness in His family and provides acceptance and recognition among His other children. He makes them feel wanted and welcomed again. The Heavenly Father’s love makes them forget the loss in their lives and help them find comfort and joy in their lives. He remembers them just as He remembered Noah in the ark, Rachel, Hanna, and even the disobedient Jonah in the belly of the fish. He will give them what they miss just as King David remembered the lame Mephibosheth.

It is likely that someone reading these lines is an orphan, widow or an abandoned person by parents, life mates, siblings or other kith and kin. Some of you are probably rejected by the household of faith. If you lift up your heads and look, you will see your Savior who was rejected by all the people around. His brothers didn’t believe in Him. His disciples ran away from Him and the people who ate the bread He broke shouting for His crucifixion. They would rather have a murderer than the Prince of Peace. The religious and political leadership wanted to get rid of Him. Perhaps you can visit the dungeon where Joseph is locked up after he was rejected and sold by his brothers and wrongly imprisoned by his boss. You can see Daniel alive and well in a lion’s den after being rejected by a nation. The Lord remembered the dejected Rachel and Hannah and gave them the desires of their heart. He will remember us even if the whole world rejects or forgets us or become ungrateful. All the love of human beings will end with the tomb, but the love of the Father will never cease or be diluted. He might spank us if we are disobedient, but His love will never depart from us and it will transcend into eternity. He is the lover of our souls who gave His only begotten Son to get us to Himself. His compassion never diminishes and He will fill the vacuum in our lives if we are rejected by our dear ones. So dear friend, do not be disturbed when you are rejected by those around you. It is best to go to the Father who will receive you with open arms. He will fill your heart with Himself so that your grief at the rejection by your dear ones will vanish. It is available to you as you go to His presence and sit there with Him. Today He wants to comfort and encourage you to keep trusting Him so that you can move with Him in the lonely paths of life. He wants you to know how much He loves you which He will tell you as you spend time with Him in His presence.


Psalms 146:9 – The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.


Thought for Today
Earthly kith and kin are for a limited period, but the Heavenly Father is forever.




Sunday, August 28, 2011

IT'S BECAUSE OF HIM!!

It’s because of Him!


Verse for Today: Sunday, August 28, 2011


Psalms 66:16 –
Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.

When we experience God in our lives, it causes us to open our mouths to speak about it. As we look at the deliverance God has given us in our difficult circumstances, it urges us to declare it to the outside world. It makes us give credit to God for the victories we find in our lives because we know that we could not have achieved it without Him. When our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude, we often forget ourselves and declare it to our beholders who wonder how we get deliverance. Miriam and her friends could not keep quiet when they crossed the Red Sea in an unbelievable manner and so they started singing. When the walls of Jerusalem were refurbished and consecrated, the people of God shouted their praises in such a manner that it was heard from a great distance. Whenever David was overwhelmed with gratitude for all that the Lord did for him in the midst of his enemies, he could not keep quiet. He wrote touching hymns to the Lord which he sang with the help of his harp and even danced before the arch of the covenant. He didn’t care when he was despised by his wife. Even though we have miles to go in our sojourn and even if there are more perils waiting for us on our way, when our hearts are sunk in the glory of the past deeds of our Lord, it would open our mouths to praise Him. It gives us the confidence that the Lord who has led us so far is capable of taking us through possible future battles as well. Our praises are thus a buffer in our thoughts as we face the future and help us to laugh at the seeming impossibilities to shout out that it is possible in the Lord. Thus we can march forward singing praise because we know that our Lord has gone before us, and that He is our light and lamp for our way and our feet. When our hearts are thus captivated by the Lord, we can laugh at the impossibilities and move forward. As we march on, we have so much to tell the onlookers about our Lord and His might which cause us to praise Him in advance for all our earthly days.

Dear reader, is your heart heavy with burdens today? Are you finding it difficult to carry it alone? But the Lord wants to ask you as to who brought you so far. If you have come hitherto by your own strength and tactics, then you have every reason to feel heaviness of heart and tensions. But if the Lord has brought you so far, you need to look only unto Him. What He has done for you so far is written in the chronicles of your testimony about Him. Today take your time to count the past blessings the Lord has given you and continue to focus on Him and praise Him. Such a look at the Lord with a grateful heart will take your eyes off the present burdens you are carrying. Remember, He will not allow you to carry it all alone. He will hold your burden for you if you are willing to cast it on Him and trust Him to carry it for you. He will walk with you as you pass through the waters and fire. When you are bolted inside a dungeon with lions, the Lord will be with you. He who created the lions knows how to shut their mouths. He who created fire knows how to protect you from its flames. His wings will cover you in the floods of tumults that the enemy casts over you. His angels will encompass around you to protect you from all snares and sharp stones on the way. His ways of leading you each step will thus cause you to praise Him and testify about what He is doing for you each moment of your life. Such a life will not have time for feeling grouchy. Today let us not waste our spiritual energies in grumbling, but invest it in the praise of our Lord and in declaring His greatness.

Psalms 34:1 –
I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.

Thought for Today
Praise is the medicine for soul’s diseases like grumbling, grouching, complaining, irritation, moodiness, anxiety, fear, frustration and despondency.



Saturday, August 27, 2011

SATISFACTION IN HIS PERSON AND PRESENCE!!

Satisfaction in His person and presence!



Verse for Today: Saturday, August 27, 2011



Psalms 65:4 –
How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.

God envisages His children to have deep hunger and thirst for Him and His presence. He creates this longing in His children through His Spirit and helps them to draw near unto Him. Their desire stems from the realization He gives them in their hearts that there is no satisfaction outside of Him. The world system promises satisfaction and happiness which it cannot deliver because all its resources are earthly and bound to decay over a period of time. They create a longing for more of it and so people tend to go after it to end up in perennial dissatisfaction. All that the world promises to give is only advertising gimmick. The world does not have the capacity to satisfy the inner longings of human hearts because man’s ultimate desire is for his Creator. But God promises deep and permanent satisfaction and He is capable of fulfilling it. He has all that it takes for man to be truly contended. God has the peace that passes all understanding to give to a world in turmoil. He gives joy unlimited in all circumstances. He gives patience when we want to react impulsively. He bestows rest and sleep for those who put their affairs in His hands. He reveals His glory to those who seek after Him in His Holy Word. He comforts the troubled. He wipes the tears of those who cry unto Him and weep in His presence. He invites His children to live permanently in His presence where they will find fullness of joy and pleasures forever. He is their Jehovah-Jireh in all their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. He never alters His promises. His promises are as powerful as He is and what He promises will be fulfilled no matter how complicated the circumstances are. He has chosen us to live in His presence forever without going to any other field to glean. He has wonderful plans for us and will fulfill it all in His time. He expects us to keep on trusting Him for all our needs and go to His presence to rest in His Word. There is a guarantee that we will be fully satisfied if we dwell in His presence.

Dear friend, what are you searching for today? If you are seeking for that which will never be taken away from you, you will find it in the presence of the Lord. He has given it all to you, but He expects you to appropriate it from His presence by faith in Him. He wants us to leave our personal capacities, worldly knowledge and resources behind us and have them crucified, and trust Him for all our needs. He will work in all your needs only when we trust Him fully. He works through faith and not through sight. When our capacities are crucified and killed, His capacity starts to work for us. If we can trust Him for our eternity, we should also be able to trust Him for our day-to-day needs. If He is sufficient for our eternity, He should be more than sufficient for our daily needs. When He gives, it comes with guaranteed satisfaction. As we enjoy His gifts, our craving will not be for what He gives, but for Him. This is how we forget our earthly needs, but get ourselves lost in His all sufficiency. So it will be no wonder if we go to His presence and forget to ask for our material needs, but be satisfied by Him. Today let us focus on the Lord and the peace that His presence gives us and leave our needs for Him to look after. Let us desire Him more and more in our lives and ask that He fills us with His glory which will overshadow all our mundane material cravings here on earth. Let our prayers be for the Lord to reveal His magnificence to our souls and then all the mundane things that we need for daily living will be added unto us.

Psalms 63:5 – My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You.

Thought for Today
When God gives satisfaction unlimited, the world gives dissatisfaction unlimited.






Friday, August 26, 2011

INSULATION FROM CONSPIRACY!

Insulation from conspiracy!

Verse for Today: Friday, August 26, 2011


Psalms 64:2 –
Hide me from the secret counsel of the evildoers, from the tumult of those who do iniquity.

There are occasions when God’s children fall prey to the conspiracy of the evildoers. They want to see the righteous fall for their secret counsel and be a failure which gives them a false sense of satisfaction. They conspire against us in our work places, schools, neighbourhoods and even in the religious circles. They are controlled by jealousy, competition, unfair comparison, greed, paranoia and other behavioral aberrations. They get a false sense of victory when we are defeated through unfair means. These conspiracies cause a lot of heartache to the children of God. They create commotions in peaceful settings so that they can fish benefit out of troubled waters which in turn hurt the innocent. But when God’s children face such situations, they can go to their Lord and ask for protection under His wings. The Lord will hide us under His shadow and keep us safe for His name’ sake. He will take us to newer vistas of life. If the world closes our doors in life, the Lord will open newer doors for us. We might look as losers because of these conspiracies and tumults, but the Lord works all of these for our good and His glory. Our experiences might cause us frustrations, but the Lord would take our frustrations and transform them into brighter avenues for the praise of His name. Detractors conspired against Joseph, David, Nehemiah, Daniel and Paul, but the Lord changed their scenarios to glorify His name. The emperor wanted to shut out John the Apostle in a lonely Patmos, but the Lord opened the doors of eternity in front of him. David still became the unchallenged king at Jerusalem. Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt and even sustained his conspirators. Nehemiah completed the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem in record time. Daniel got greater recognition and reputation in the kingdom. Paul could go to Rome to preach. All of these were far more than they ever expected, but the Lord made it all happen in spite of the conspiracies. This Lord is our Lord who works things for us even in the midst of conspiracy and tumult.

Dear friend, are you a prey to conspiracy and tumult created by your enemies with the intention of trapping you? It is possible that you are frustrated because of these events in life. It would have caused you to secretly weep before the Lord. But your Lord is watching these conspirators and their evil thoughts against you. Touching you is considered as touching Him. When it aches your heart, His heart will also ache because you are His precious child. He will not watch your conspirators silently for long. His fierce response to them will surely be visible soon. But more than that, you will see His hands working to prepare better things for you. You will see amazing new doors and opportunities opened in front of you. He will have newer ministries for you instead of the ministries others snatched away from you. Remember, when the Lord opens a door for you, no man can shut it. His ways are much better than the ways of the world which give people false and temporary gains. Your conspirators will not be able to keep for long the temporary gains they secured at your expense. The Lord will give you the grace to forgive and forget about your conspirators. You will tread through the Calvary road to His green pastures and still waters with a feast prepared for you in the midst of your detractors while He anoints your head with His oil of gladness. While your conspirators wallow in misery, you will fly to higher vistas of spiritual blessings which no force can take away. So dear friend, take heart and be exceedingly glad because your Lord will compensate for all your earthly losses with greater spiritual blessings and fill your life with peace, patience and joy. May we experience exceeding joy while our conspirators reap the misery of the tumult they engineer!

Psalms 31:20 – You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

Thought for Today
The conspiracy of the wicked cannot defeat the righteous whose times are in the hands of the Almighty.




Thursday, August 25, 2011

CLING TO THE HANDS THAT HOLD YOU!!

Cling to the Hands that hold you

Verse for Today: Thursday, August 25, 2011


Psalms 63:8 –
My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

The relationship between a child of God and the Father in Heaven is mutually inclusive. The right hand of the Father upholds the child tightly and protects him from the enemy of his soul. No one can pluck us from the hand of the Father. The Father’s hand is the place of ultimate safety, security and rest where the child can dwell without fear or fret. This is the expression of the Father’s care and love for the child. At the same time, the child of God has the freedom to behave like a little child who will cling on to the Father for the feeling of safety. Knowing fully well that the Father upholds him in His right hand, the child still has the freedom to express his longing for confidence in the Father by clinging on to Him like a little fearful child. When the child clings to the Father, all fear vanishes and the feeling of absolute safety pervades his heart. This freedom that the children of God have in the Father make them keeps going in the midst of all adversities and attacks of the enemy. If we do not utilize this freedom with the Father, we would live in fear and fret even when the Father upholds us and lead us to live without confidence when situations become bleak and circumstances get complicated. Clinging on to the Father involves knowing Him and His promises. King David had to hold on to these promises moment by moment as his situations were precarious and uncertain. Nehemiah had to cling on to the promises while involved in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Joseph had to cling on to it while he was in the dungeon waiting for the Lord to lift him up from there. Abraham had to cling on to the Lord until Isaac was born and even later. Jacob had to cling to the Lord as he kept experiencing Bethel, Peniel, Hebron, Beersheba and even Dothan. Today you and I have the privilege to cling on to the promises of the Lord and say ‘amen’ to it and then we will know the power of His right hand holding us and fulfilling His promises in our lives. When He holds us, no force in the Universe will touch us or tamper with us because we are His precious personal possession.

Dear friend, if your situation today is intimidating and fearful, you will have to realize two things. First of all, your Father in Heaven is holding you in His right hand and that no force on earth can tamper with you. Secondly, you have the privilege to cling on to the Lord and His promises and feel secure. But you can cling on to Him only if you take time to get to know Him and His promises. You have to develop an intimacy with Him and familiarize with His ways. As a loving Father, He enjoys it when His beloved children come closer to Him and cling on to Him. When they ask for His promises to be fulfilled in their lives, He does it joyfully. He showers His loving care over them so that they would be able to face all their situations fearlessly and without anxiety. All His promises are for His children who draw closer to Him and have the desire to cling on to Him. He looks into our hearts to see who would want to handle our lives our way and who want to cling to Him and leave all their affairs to Him. When we cling on to Him, He gives us the confidence and peace as we await His actions. Clinging is not only for occasions when we are in trouble, but for all the time and in all our situations. He wants us not to be occasional visitors to His presence, but to dwell there with Him all the time and leave all our affairs to Him to manage. So let us today go to the Lord and cling on Him and His promises as we acknowledge to Him that we are grateful that we are in His mighty hands to enjoy His security and safety.

Joshua 23:8 – But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.

Thought for Today
If we waste away the opportunity to cling on to the Lord in all circumstances, we are in essence telling God that we do not need Him.




Wednesday, August 24, 2011

REWARD FOR SILENCE!!

Reward for Silence


Verse for Today: Wednesday, August 24, 2011


Psalms 62:1 –
My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation.

Quiet often the people of the world wonder why the children of God keep silent when they are intimidated and wronged by them. They expect God’s children to retaliate and take revenge. Sometimes the silence and inaction of God’s children are taken as weakness. They do not realize that we are keeping quiet because of the patience that we receive from the Lord. They sometimes take advantage of our patience and silence and do more harm to us. But they do not know that we are a kind of people who pray for those who wrong us because these people are Satan’s instruments against God’s people. Sometimes Satan even uses God’s people against each other. But we do not wrestle against flesh and blood and so we wait in silence for our God to work in our lives and our situations. He is the God who rules and overrules situations to take glory out of it all. He gives His children the strength to remain silent when persecuted and intimidated. We know that in the final analysis, we are the victors through the victory our Lord secured on the cross and so we defeat all our fleshly inclinations to fight with others. But waiting in silence is not easy for us because our human instinct will always be under pressure to take revenge or to give tit for tat. But our Lord is the greatest role model for us in this that He never retaliated against all the wrongs the world did to Him. He entrusted the matter with the Father and remained quiet. He could have called ten thousand angels to fight for Him, but kept it all in abeyance and remained silent. Had He uttered one word against His enemies, they would have become ashes in split second. He waited for the Father to act. God’s children like Joseph, David, Nehemiah, Paul, Peter and John waited in silence for the Lord to act on their behalf. They were all given patience and endurance in times of persecution and intimidation. Our God works the same way in our lives also and He has abundance of patience and peace for us to draw upon to help us go through our present difficulties and come out victorious.

Dear friend, are you going through attacks and intimidation in your life today? Perhaps your human instinct is to fight back. But if you do not fight back, but entrust the matter with the Lord, He will take up your cause forward. He will deal with your intimidators and will silence them. He will be your advocate in all situations and will give you the peace and patience that He experienced on the cross for you to enjoy in times of fierce attacks and persecutions. He will strengthen your mind and fortify you all around so that the attacks will not harm you. He understands your predicaments and deal with you in love and kindness. He comes to comfort you through His Spirit and His Word. God’s Spirit and His Word are millions of time more potent than any of the weapons of the enemy. God will also take away all bitterness and frustrations from your heart and fill you with His joy even in the midst of severe battles. The Lord gives you the strength to remain quiet rather than create commotions and outcries. He will give you the rest that you need in your soul in the midst of all the battles that the enemy is waging against you. He will lead you in His light and will give you great assurances through His Word to deal in each situation. Your silence in His presence is most valuable and will be rewarded with right deliverance at the right time because your Lord works for you even when you are silent. So let us today take courage and be strong in the Lord and in His abundant grace to remain silent and wait for Him to send His deliverance for us in His time.

Psalms 37:7 - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Thought for Today
The silence of God’s children in the wake of intimidation is far more powerful than any of the weapons that the enemy uses.



Tuesday, August 23, 2011

SHOWERS OF STRENGTH IN THE FORTRESS!!

Showers of Strength in the Fortress


Verse for Today: Tuesday, August 23, 2011


Psalms 59:9 – O my strength, I watch for You; You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.

Once we know the Lord who is the true source of divine strength, we need to look at that source alone and nowhere else. When we know the Lord who is our divine fortress, we can to go to that fortress and rest in times of trouble. The Lord fills us with His divine strength in times of our weaknesses. He is our fortress in times of distress. God expects us to look unto Him and to watch and wait for Him to send us strength when we are weak. We are prone to be weak physically, emotionally and spiritually and are prone to discouragement. It is at our weak moments that we are more severely attacked by the enemy. These attacks are often channeled through the people we deal with and through our situations. We have the great comfort that no matter what kind of attack we are subjected to, we can look unto the Lord. There is deliverance and strength flowing from Him to us in all situations. He cares for us because He loves us like the apple of His eyes. We are redeemed by the very blood of God’s only begotten Son and so we are precious to Him. His strength is made available for our use. His strength abounds in our weakness. Only when we empty ourselves of our own self and natural strength will we feel the necessity to go to Him and ask for His strength. The Psalmist is a good example for us to follow in his craving for the Lord and His strength to fortify him to fight his battles and to enjoy the protection and care of the Lord who has been his fortress.

Dear reader, have you lately felt the need for the strength of the Lord for your daily life? Are you right now in need of the security and safety of the fortress of His love? You can find security and rest only in the Lord Jesus who alone can take away all your fears and give you peace in the context of the attack of the enemy? David suggests that the only way to gain strength is to go unto the Lord who looks at you with His love. He loves you as His precious child and is keen to pour His strength on to you. He would not force it on you, but would rather encourage you to go to Him and ask for it. He wants you to know that He is the source of all security and strength which you are badly in need of. So you are today encouraged to look unto Him and receive His strength in your body, soul and spirit. He will fill you with confidence and courage in times of severe tests and tribulations. His Spirit will empower and endow you with power from above to weather away the psychological intimidation of the enemy to drain your confidence from you. But if you put your confidence in the Lord, you will not be shaken by the fierce attacks and threats of the enemy. Your heart will find comfort, rest and peace in the Lord. You will be filled with His Spirit who is the Spirit of peace and joy in spite of your circumstances. All you need to do is to look unto the author and finisher of your faith and He will supply you with the necessary strength for each moment according to the needs of your situations. If we look unto the Lord, we will never be disappointed because He will not let us go empty handed. It is our privilege today to look unto the Lord and gain strength to go forward and become victorious in today’s battles. He will shower newer grace and necessary strength for tomorrow’s battle at the right time. Remember, the Lord is with you in all your situations and will never leave you alone.

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 born of my salvation, my stronghold.

Thought for Today
When I am willing to admit my weaknesses to the Lord, He will shower His strength on me.



Monday, August 22, 2011

INEXHAUSTIBLE KINDNESS AND UTTER FAITHFULNESS!!

Inexhaustible Kindness and Utter Faithfulness!

Verse for Today: Monday, August 22, 2011
Psalms 57:10 – For great is Your loving-kindness, reaching to the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

A person who experiences the loving-kindness and faithfulness of the Lord only knows how vast and tall it is. In essence it is immeasurable and unfathomable. It is vast in comparison to the mundane needs of the people of God. No matter who vast our needs are, it just cannot exhaust the loving-kindness and faithfulness of God. It is like an ocean which is available for us to enjoy and yet in comparison, it can only be like a little boy taking a hand full of water from it. In other words, God’s kindness and faithfulness to His children will be inexhaustible and incomprehensibly high. The Spirit of God wants to impress upon His children that so much of His kindness and faithfulness are made available to us to experience and enjoy so that all our possible needs can be met. God deals with us with such an inexhaustible measure of His kindness and that His faithfulness will reach up to all our situations. God will show kindness to us and deal with us in compassion. He will show faithfulness in fulfilling all His promises which are recorded in His Word. When we have such a great God who is faithful to us for generations, why should we not enjoy it? What can prevent us from appropriating it other than our lack of desire for Him? When such a God of kindness and faithfulness is with us to give us all that we ever need and fill us with Him, there is really no reason why we should live below the level of His blessings. Those who experience it can only say with wonder and awe about its vastness and praise Him for His benevolence and grace in making us partakers of such a great mine full of kindness. It will be to our utter loss if we miss out on such a great, faithful and kind God.

Dear reader, have you ever felt the need for appropriating the vast reservoir of kindness and faithfulness of the Lord in your life? Those who need His kindness only need to go to Him and ask for it and He will make it available to them in such a great and immeasurable level. There is abundance of His kindness to meet every need. He gives far beyond what we ever ask for or expect. But we need to learn how to appropriate it and make it part of our lives. We are all positionally given His kindness to enjoy, but we need to make it ours. It is like the Israelites picking up the manna in the morning. It was available around them, but unless one goes to pick it up, that person won’t be able to enjoy it. We find God’s servants like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, David, Gideon, Nehemiah, Ezra, Daniel and others enjoying God’s kindness and faithfulness in their walk with Him. They were needy and they went to Him for His kindness which He gave them immeasurably. He allowed His servant Paul and his associates enjoy abundance of His kindness in times of great spiritual and psychological needs. When they all cried unto the Lord, He answered them and showed them kindness and compassion. He held their hands and took them through the rough patches of life. The Lord proved His faithfulness to all of them at all situations. Through the centuries, He has demonstrated His kindness to all His servants and it was available for the asking. Of course, it depends on our felt needs, our awareness of our depravity and His abundance. Thus when we go to Him with humility and felt need and express our dependence on Him, He will take us to His vast ocean of kindness and show forth His faithfulness by fulfilling all His promises to meet all our needs. When this Lord is coming to us by extending His everlasting arms, why should we live like paupers? Today we have the privilege to go to Him and fill our lives with His kindness and enjoy all that He has promised us for our every need.

Psalms 36:7 – How precious is Your loving-kindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Thought for Today
The wings of the Lord are so vast that all His children can find solace and safety under its shadows.



Sunday, August 21, 2011

ANCHOR IN THE TROUBLED SEAS OF LIFE!!


Anchor in the troubled seas of life!


Verse for Today: Sunday, August 21, 2011

Psalms 57:7 – My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!

The troubled seas of life make life waffle like a thin boat. There is no stability in anything and the mind will wiggle and waggle with thoughts of anxiety and fear. Hope wanes and vanishes in the billows and life hinges on the wind and the waves without direction. But even in such high seas of life, there is an anchor for God’s children. In the midst of utter hopelessness, they can cast their anchor on their Lord and on His promises which would never change. There might be some instability in the circumstances and situations, but their lives are anchored on the Rock of Ages who is eternally stable and steadfast. He never changes even when everything around them change and decay. When there is hopelessness, He fixes our hope in His never-changing promises which hold true. So when there are occasions of uncertainties and instability, He calls all His children to cast their cares upon Him and relax. The sea will calm and the wind will stop. But even if it doesn’t stop immediately, the Lord is their guarantee that nothing untoward will ever happen to His children who are precious in His sight. His Spirit will keep strengthening His children and put comfort in their hearts. As they meditate upon His Word, the Spirit will illuminate the glory of the Lord and will generate faith in their hearts to keep trusting Him. This will make them sing hymns of faith, trust, strength, comfort, encouragement, certainty, consolation and peace. As they enjoy His care and comfort, it causes them to praise Him for all their circumstances because they know that He knows about all their circumstances and will get them through it all for His glory.

Dear friend, are you going through the sea bellows of life today and do not know where you seem to be heading to? If you know who controls your life and circumstances, you do not need to know exactly in what direction you are moving. Your Lord knows where you are going and what direction your life is taking because He is your anchorman. He never makes mistakes and nothing is covered from His eyes. In His eternal wisdom and knowledge, He knows where things are moving towards in your life. He has enough provisions for you to meet all the challenges which lie ahead. If there are dangers, He knows about it in advance and will make provisions to deliver you from it. If there are junctions, He will erect sign boards for you to follow the right way. If there are detractors, He will see to it that you will not be deceived by the confusions they try to create to make you take detours. If you loose the way, He will come to you as your Way, the Truth and the Life. He walks with you and also walks in front of you to give you companionship and fellowship on the way and to put a song in your heart for you to sing along. He causes you to praise Him for all that He is doing for you every moment of your life. There will be no dull moment in your life when you enjoy His company and fellowship. Such consciousness of life will make you steadfast and fixed in the perspectives of life because such a life is anchored on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Such faith caused Paul and Silas sing songs of praise in the Philippian Jail and Joseph to keep serving Him in the prison in Egypt. Today you have the opportunity to walk with Him with songs in the day time and songs in the night and praise His holy name for His mighty power demonstrated each moment in your life.

Psalms 56:11 – In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Thought for Today
When I travel with the Lord on the sea billows of my life, even the movement of my boat is rhythm for the songs which He gives in my soul to praise Him.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

FIGHTING FEAR!!

Fighting Fear!

Verse for Today: Saturday, August 20, 2011


Psalms 56:3 – When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.


Fear makes people either run away from the scene or surrenders to it and get stuck. When they are cornered, they might sometimes react violently against the object of their fear. Flight would make them afraid all the more because the object of the fear will follow them wherever they try to escape. Running away is mostly considered a cowardice act. Violent reaction against the object of fear will not bring forth any positive result because it doesn’t destroy the object of fear, but will only end up in using up our energy. Both of these acts tend to make people weaker physically and emotionally. When fear grips us, we might not be able to do either of these because the situation might make us emotionally paralyzed. But the Psalmist wants to suggest to us from his experience that when we are captured or hindered by a situation, we should not run away or fight back. The only expedient thing to do is to stay quiet like an innocent dove and put our trust in the Lord because He is able to deliver us. There was nothing that David, the warrior, could do to get out of His difficult situations. But as he was remaining quiet, his heart was in communion with the Lord. He put his trust in the Lord to keep him safe when he was in the enemy’s net. When God’s people are thus gripped by fear which is their worst enemy, they have a Lord to go and tell about all their fears. When we know that He hears our prayers, it gives us great confidence to keep trusting Him during our fearful situations. When fear and anxiety knock at the door of our hearts, our trust in the Lord will put confidence and hope in our hearts. At such moments, we can enjoy the liberty and deliverance that He gives us.

Dear friend, are you presently going through fear and anxiety which have made you a prisoner of these emotions? Do you feel that you are in a hopeless situation because you can’t do any thing about it? Is fear tempting you to run away to a safe haven? You probably know for sure that running away will not b easy because you are bound by powerful and intimidating situations. But your Lord has given you a way out of your binding situations by giving you a key to the dungeon where you are imprisoned. The name of that key is ‘faith’ in your Lord. The moment you have become a child of God, He has given you this key to open any door of fearful obstruction or hindrance on your way to follow the Lord Jesus. You are free to use this key and put all your trust in the Lord to help you open the door of your prison cell and come out in His name. So when fear grips you, you can wake up to the reality that there is no need for you to surrender to your circumstances or to the enemy of your soul. You are given the privilege and authority to put your trust in the Lord who is greater than all your circumstances. If you put your trust in Him and open the dungeons of your life with the key of faith, the hindrance will be removed and the door will be open for you to go forward. When Jacob was in Paddan Aram, he used this key to get out of the bondage he experienced in the house of his father-in-law. Joseph used this key to come out of his dungeon in Egypt. Daniel used it successfully in the lion’s den. Peter, Paul and Silas used it in Jerusalem and Philippi to get deliverance from prisons. It is a key which has proved its credibility and power. It is a special gift from the Lord to you. If you use it, the result will be positive. It is a powerful key because it comes in the name of our Lord with His authority and power. Throughout the last several centuries, scores of God’s children have used it with guaranteed result. Today we have the privilege to use it to get out of our dungeons and become free from the snares of our circumstances. Let us not be afraid today because of our situations or our enemy, but use the key of ‘faith’ and open the doors which are closed in front of us. Let us put all our trust in the Lord. Let us not be tempted to use our trust in our education, wealth, experience, relationships or intelligence, but on the Lord only and He will guide us and take us forward to freedom and joy in Him.

Psalms 115:11 – You who revere the Lord, trust in Him; He is their help and their shield.

Thought for Today
The key of faith will work on any door of hindrance created in front of us by the enemy.






Friday, August 19, 2011

FLIGHT THROUGH STORMS OF LIFE!!

Flight through storms of life!


Verse for Today: Friday, August 19, 2011


Psalms 55:6 -
I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest".

There are times in the life of a child of God when he or she gets absolutely exasperated and seems to reach the end of the way. Their experiences become so painful and agonies so bitter that they feel like wanting to escape their situations. They feel so frustrated and lonely and see no way out of their situations. There seem to be no ray of hope in the horizon and days pass by without any solutions. They are attacked from all corners by those who are dear and near to them and drain away all their courage and strength to go forward any further and feel the urgency to escape like a bird. It is at these times that the Lord comes to them like a dove and comfort them. Their anguishes are certainly heard by the Heavenly Father who sends His love to them in a special way. His Word is echoed in their hearts that He will lead them further. Perhaps they are like Elijah with no hope to go forward. It may be that of an innocent Joseph who is locked up in a dungeon and forgotten by those whom he served. There are experiences like that of Paul in a ship out in the sea amidst storms, winds, earthquake, without seeing sun and no food for 14 days. But the Lord comes down to us at such times to tell us that in spite of all of these turmoil, He is with us and He will see to it that we move forward to accomplish His purpose. Joseph, Elijah and Paul were part of the great plan of God and they had important things to accomplish. It was important for the sake of the upcoming ministries that they go forward. Unless Elijah goes forward, Elisha cannot come to the scene. Only through the elevation of Joseph will the lineage of Abraham will continue without extinct until it reaches the Messiah. Rich ministries along with several prison epistles are on the way from and through Paul in the days after the storm. Yes, there are things for us to do and ministries to perform. There are lives we need to touch for which we need to go forward. The hindrances are often created by the enemy or our folly. There are seeming hindrances that are tests to strengthen our faith. But our Lord is out there to accomplish His purpose in and through us for which we need to go forward rather than escape the current scenarios.

Dear friend, are you going through severe storms in life and feel like wanting to rest like the Psalmist and to fly away? Is your pain so bitter and unbearable and is it multiplied by the people around you with cruel behavior? But your Lord knows about it, and He is at work for you even in the midst of these frustrating experiences. Instead of making you a dove to fly away, He wants to make you an eagle who can fly up and go closer to Him to experience the warmth of His care and love. He who was with Elijah, Joseph and Paul is with you also. His Spirit is in your heart and life as a great source of comfort and strength to weather away the storms that are blowing against you. In the dungeons of your life, He comes to you as the ray of hope and sunshine. As you get frustrated and sleep under the broom tree in a desert, He sends a special angel of comfort and care to wake you up and wait on you with heavenly bread and water of life to revive your sagging spirit. He has an answer to all your difficulties and it will be revealed at the right time. He will give you to the strength to hold on until He reveals His plan to see you through the storms and beyond. There are lives out there for you to touch and strengthen. There are newer battles you might need to face with courage in the future for which He is preparing you. Your experiences will strengthen others who go through similar events in life. Even as you go through the storms of life, you will be able to minister to the needs of others as Joseph and Paul did. The Lord wants to use your life as an object lesson for other lives to be strengthened. You need to hold on and be firm and courageous in the Lord who is working in you and your situations to give you a release at the right time for His glory. Today the Lord comes to you like a dove to put hope back in your life and hold your hands to go forward in His strength in spite of the darkness that is around. Soon the Son of Righteousness will shine upon you in whose light you will see light again to go forward.

Isaiah 60:1 - Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.


Thought for Today

The dove that the Lord sends our way is our medium to fly through the storms of life and not to fly away from it.




Thursday, August 18, 2011

SPIRITUAL REFURBISHMENT!!

Spiritual Refurbishment!

Verse for Today: Thursday, August 18, 2011
Psalms 51:18 -
In Your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.

We live in a world which thinks that prosperity is in the material and physical realms and in accomplishments. But these realms of prosperity are short-lived and end with our life on earth. True and lasting prosperity is in the spiritual realm where the inner person grows and becomes stronger in wisdom, knowledge, faith and confidence in the Lord. Prosperity in the physical realm is generally achieved by people who are smart, wise, cunning and tactful. But these ways do not work to achieve prosperity in the spiritual realm. It is a gift by the Lord which we need to appropriate by spending time in the presence of God with the Word of God. It presupposes a deep thirst for the brooks of God and enquiring into the secrets of God. It comes only when a child of God is willing to sacrifice the temporal things for the eternal. It involves the knowledge about the broken walls of character and commitment in the lives of God's people and the efforts taken to rebuild the broken walls. Often our walls are penetrated by the enemy of our souls through the five senses. He sends his messages of worldly fame and fortune through our eyes, ears, tongue, smell and touch which are the five sense doors we all have. Unless these doors are crucified with Christ, the enemy will use these to enter our hearts and minds to slowly but steadily tear down our walls just as the case of Jerusalem during the years of captivity. Broken walls necessarily mean serious damage done to our walls and doors. If we confess our failures and passivity and ask the Lord to help us rebuild it, He will strengthen us, give us the resources from His Word and help us refurbish our broken walls. This is the beginning of spiritual prosperity.

Dear friend, are the walls of your spiritual, family and assembly life torn down because of your lack of commitment to the Lord and your passivity, lethargy and lack of vision? It is time you take a serious look at the walls of your life with the help of the Word and the Holy Spirit. When the Lord shows you the extent of tear and the reasons for it, you need to confess it to the Lord and ask Him to give you another chance. Remember, He is the God of the second chance. He will give you a time to come back because there is always a way back to the Lord. He gave a second chance to Abraham, Jacob, Jonah, David, John Mark, Simon Peter and others to start all over again. He is willing to forgive your past failures and losses and help you to refurbish the broken walls of your life. Your spiritual prosperity is His good pleasure. He knows that you cannot rebuild the broken wall of your life all alone. He has all the spiritual resources made available to you at Christ's expense. But it is possible that the enemy will try to distract and discourage you in the rebuilding process. While you rebuild, all your mundane needs will be met by Him according to His riches in glory. Even as you rebuild the walls, you are engaged in warfare. You will have to wear the whole armor of God while you rebuild. Your greatest strength to rebuild will come through prayer. But your focus depends on your commitment. Once you complete the refurbishing process, you need to watch over the gates of your life so that the enemy will not slip into your life again. You can also learn about rebuilding from the lives of Ezra, Nehemiah, David, Solomon. Paul, Timothy, Titus, James and others and also ask the Master Builder to help you. Of course, you are expected to live a life of austerity like Nehemiah and Paul while the building process is in progress, and be satisfied with the minimum. Let your attention be on the rebuilding process rather than on material prosperity which will disappear as vapor. If you commit the building process to the Lord, He is willing to help you complete it for His glory.

Philippians 2:13 - For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Thought for Today
The way to accomplish great things in life is to allow God free hand according to His will and pleasure.



Wednesday, August 17, 2011

NO REJECTION! NO FORSAKING!

No Rejection! No forsaking!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Psalms 37:25 -
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

It is a wonderful fact, proven through generations that the righteous persons will not be forsaken by God. They are treated by God with kindness and compassion. They may not be materially rich, popular, prominent or prestigious in this world. But their truthfulness before God will not be forgotten by a righteous God. It is most likely that righteous people will be rejected and forsaken by the world around them because this world is not a righteous world. This world is led by Satan who is the father of all unrighteousness, inequality, injustice and evil. Such a world can never be expected to respect righteousness. Righteous people are a great inconvenience to this wicked world. But God honors righteous people who have become righteous not because they are perfect, but because their unrighteousness is forgotten by God through Jesus Christ. All humans are born unrighteous. We do not have any truth in us and are by birth children of unrighteousness. But when we go to God through the cross of Jesus Christ and trust Him to forgive us righteousness, we become righteous people. This righteousness is imputed to us through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thus when we become the children of the righteous God, we also become righteous. We are then called upon to live a righteous life here on earth. Even though we do not have the capacity to live a righteous life, God will enable us to live that way through His Spirit. Thus when we live a godly life as righteous people, God will make sure that we are accepted by Him for what we are. He will not forsake us nor reject us. We have the freedom to go to Him through Jesus Christ and are heard by Him. God will listen to us and see our situations. He will give us victory over our situations and take us forward in our sojourn.

Perhaps you have been forsaken by those who are near and dear to you in this world. It is likely that the people you loved refuse to accept you when you are in need. It is also likely that the people you served behave as if they have never seen you before. Some may not acknowledge the good work you have done or the contribution you have made to their welfare. Forces in this world might want to discredit you for all that you are. But you can be absolutely sure that the Lord will not reject forsake you. He will understand you and your situations. He will honor you for the good work you have done. If you have done credible things in the name of the Lord, He will not forget your labour and hard work. he will never leave you nor forsake you and will reward you by meeting your mundane needs. He will not forsake even your generations for that matter. But your generations will have the responsibility to go to the Lord to become righteous. So dear friend, if you are frustrated about the rejection that you experienced from those whom you have served, don't be discouraged and stop serving others. Even if they forget you, the Lord will not forget you. You can continue to serve others in the name of the Lord and for His sake. He will see your good works and reward you at the Bema. In the meanwhile, He will meet your needs and keep you going with His praise on your lips. Remember how the Lord remembered Joseph even when he was rejected by his brothers. When Paul was tried by Caesar, the brethren in Rome refused to stand with Him. Aaron and Miriam refused to accept the good work done by their own brother Moses. See how Abel was rejected by his own brother Cain! Our Lord Jesus was rejected by those who ate the bread He broke for them. So dear reader, cheer up and take comfort in the Lord because He will not reject you nor forsake you. He will be with you to wipe your tears and carry you on His shoulders when all others reject you.

Psalms 37:28 - For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake His righteous ones. They will be protected for ever.

Thought for Today
When God accepts us, it doesn't matter even if the whole world rejects us.



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

GOLDEN STILLNESS AND SILENCE!!

Golden Stillness and Silence!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Psalms 46:10 -
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

When we know our God intimately to understand His deeds in this world to accomplish His purpose, it ought to cause us to be still and confident about His power and leave all our concerns for Him to handle. Such deep faith in Him takes away our apprehensions and helps us to put our total trust in Him. It gives us the challenge to watch what God is doing around us and marvel at the demonstration of His power. When we are stuck and unable to go forward because of the seeming turmoil around us, we will come to the realization about our nothingness and surrender our concerns to the Lord. It would then be the best to lay the matter at the feet of our Lord. He is the God of the impossible and knows how to turn things around for the good of His people and for His glory. Perhaps what goes on around us might not immediately work for our good, but as things evolve we will see how God turns things around in dynamic and dramatic ways to make it for our blessing. When we see His hands in the turn of events in such dramatic ways, it would make us marvel at Him and His mighty power and cause us to exalt Him in our hearts and among the people around through our testimonies. Thus when things unfold in an amazing manner according to His will, we would have no way other than praising Him for His wisdom, knowledge, power and strength demonstrated in our situations. So if we see our situations utterly hopelessness, it is time for us to leave it to the Lord and remain silent. We can always take the rags of our lives and leave it at His feet for Him to make something beautiful out of it. Admitting to the Lord our incapability stems from our full trust in His power to straighten our situations out. Trusting the Lord to be able to handle it in the best way and submitting it to the Lord comes from our realization of the glory of our Lord. His glorious power makes us dumbfounded and stay silent before Him.

Dear friend, have you come across situations in your life when there is nothing you can do to change it? How often have you found yourself totally helpless in your complicated situations? Perhaps you are facing such a crisis right now! If you realize that you are helpless, perhaps it is the right time and place to put your absolute hope in the Lord and wait for Him in silence and watch how your situation unfolds. When your situation is in the hands of the Lord, He will take it and reshape it in the best manner and put it back on the track. If you try to handle it on the basis of your finite knowledge and wisdom, you will make a greater mess of it. Of course, there will be pressure from our souls to do something about it impetuously. But it is wise to hand it over to the Lord and leave it with Him because He is the Master Designer of human lives and situations. He knows what is best for us in each situation and will reshape us and our situation if we let Him. But if we meddle with it while He is working on it, we would cause more damage and delay and end up in complicating it further. We are called upon to be silent and take our hands off our situations. We are to surrender and crucify our impetus to do something and watch in silence with great expectations for the Lord to act in our situations. When we hand over the steering wheel of our ship to Him, we can relax and wait for our Heavenly Anchorman to take us through the wind and the waves to the cape of good hope. This will cause us to praise Him and exalt His holy name. So let us be silent before the Lord and take our hands off our lives and allow Him to take us through His plans and programs.

Psalms 116:7 - Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Thought for Today
When we take our hands off our affairs, His hands will start working for us.





Monday, August 15, 2011

HIS ALL-POWERFUL NAME!!

His All-Powerful Name!


Verse for Today:
Monday, August 15, 2011
Psalms 44:5 -
Through You we will push back our adversaries; through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.

In spiritual warfare, the Christian works things out in and through the name of the Lord rather than using world's methods. For the spiritual battles, we get our energy and techniques from the Lord. Our weapons are those that are given to us by the Lord and we use it the way He wants us to use it. When adversaries aim at us with their fiery darts, we seek the help of the Lord and ask Him in prayer to help us. We follow His commands to use His full armor and thus declare our total dependence on the Lord and not on our ideas. The adversary comes to us and uses his arrows of faithlessness, confusion, doubt, apprehension, anxiety and frustration and try to divide our minds and loyalties so that we become vulnerable. When our faith is weak, he overpowers us to plunge us into despair. But the armor that is given to us is capable of pushing back all our adversaries and their tactics. Our armor can break any arrow. When we resist the enemy, He will flee from us. But he will keep coming back to try different tactics at different times to make us fall from our walk with the Lord. If we take the whole armor of God and use it the name of our Lord as we push forward, the enemy will flee fast. Our Lord has already secured victory for us in all our circumstances through His death on the cross and so the moment we call out His name, the enemy will not be able to withstand us. We can use the name of the Lord with His mighty power to rebuke the enemy in His name, the enemy will retreat. But this is an on-going exercise and we need to keep fighting him and appropriate the victory that our Lord has earned for us.

Dear friend, are you aware of the fact that you are called into a battle with the enemy of your soul? Your enemy is crafty and crooked and will use any mean methods to tear you into pieces and make you a wreck. He will attack you when you are physically, spiritually or emotionally weakest. You need to be ever on the alert and expect the enemy's attack and be ready with the whole armor of God. You also need to train yourself to fight and to push back and trample the enemy in the name of the Lord. As you are dressed in the armor of God, you can cry out the name of the Lord and rebuke the enemy. The enemy cannot withstand the spiritual power embodied in the name of our Lord Jesus and He will flee away. It is important that we know the power of the name of our Lord. It was in His name that the apostles performed miracles. It is when a sinner calls upon the name of the Lord that he gets saved from eternal damnation. At the name of the Lord, demons flee and diseases are cured. Peace comes to a restless Christian in the name of the Lord Jesus. We have the right to use the name of our Lord in our prayers and are bound to find answers, as He has commanded us to pray in His name. At the name of Jesus, all bondage will be broken and deliverance will be granted to His children. So dear friend, when you are attacked by the enemy of your soul through his subtle and dubious armor of anxiety, confusion, doubt or depression, use the name of the Lord to call out your war with the enemy and you will find him retreat. You can trample the enemy and push him back in the name of the Lord and enjoy victory in His name. May the name of the Lord give you victory today as you are confronted by the enemy with his tactics and live a life of peace, joy, satisfaction and confidence!

Proverbs 18:20 - The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Thought for Today
The name of the Lord is the greatest shield for God's children to break all the bondage of the enemy.




Sunday, August 14, 2011

MERCY FOR ALL MOMENTS!!

Mercy for all moments!

Verse for Today: Sunday, August 14, 2011
Psalms 42:8 -
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.

God's children enjoy His lovingkindness without ceasing or receding. As they are awake each morning, they see the leading of the Lord every moment of that day through His demonstrated mercy and grace. There is not a single moment in our lives which is outside the realm of His kindness. He knows that we are dust, with frailties of various kind and so He extends His care to us to make these dusts become vessels of honor for Him. When we face each of our situations and are often caught up in perplexity in the unexpected webs of everyday reality, the Lord is already there with His hands full of mercy to help us pass through such moments and come out victorious. He knows that without His help, we would not be able to pass through such situations of tests, tribulations and trials which require divine help and support. We often require instant help from Him to handle the demands of each moment. Our human smartness would not help us in moments like these. We are often expected to find quick answers to questions and fast decisions on issues and concerns and are apprehended about the results of such decisions. Our enemy is out there to catch us in our lapses to ruin our testimony. In such circumstances, we would need special grace. Our Lord knows each of these situations and goes before us to prepare us to handle it. He extends His lovingkindness to help us to deal in each of these situations. In the night, as we retire, there are several concerns in front of us which require His help and support. Often we do not know what to expect and would not even know how to pray for the needs of the next day. That is when He gives us songs in the night which are but prayers written by His servants. As we sing these songs, the general prayers embodied in these songs go to the Lord as prayers from our hearts for which His answers come in specific ways.

Dear friend, how do you find your general prayers in songs with specific answers from the Lord in specific ways? The Lord gives us these songs in the night to help us pray so that specific answers can be sent from Heaven to meet our specific needs. These are audible songs or even songs that we hum along at various times of our lives when the Spirit gives these songs for us to sing from our burdened souls. Our Lord and His Spirit help us to sing these songs as prayers, though general in nature. But He answers these prayers in specific ways throughout the trying moments of our lives. For this to happen, we need to be tuned to the Spirit through continuous meditation on His Word. It is far more expedient to continue in meditation on the Lord and His Word rather than using our energies to cook up smart plans to deal with our needs. If we hand over each of our moments to the Lord, He will take our moments and days forward according to His plans and programs. We must remember that our Lord will take our lives in His hands only if we give it to Him. He will not forcefully take away our moments unless these are voluntarily and willingly surrendered to Him and placed on the alter. When we place ourselves with all that we have on the alter of His will, He will take it and make something beautiful out of it. Our situations might be horrible as in the days of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon or Elijah. But our Lord can take it in His hands and transform it into a great blessing to us and others around us. This requires our willingness to submit ourselves to enjoying His lovingkindness and sing to the Lord in prayer during our nights. Then we will experience His grace and mercy in the right measure on the subsequent days to lead us to a life of contentment without anxiety.

Psalms 77:6 - I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, and my spirit ponders.

Thought for Today
The mercy of God is our shield during day and night to strengthen us to deal in all our concerns in life.



Saturday, August 13, 2011

EXCHANGE OF DESIRES!!

Exchange of Desires!

Verse for Today: Saturday, August 13, 2011
Psalms 37:4 -
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Delighting in a person presupposes our intimate knowledge and close relationship with that person. It is invariably true that the closer we know a person, the more we understand that he is human and has feet of clay. But when we know the Lord and keep renewing our relationship with Him through continuous communication and dwelling in His presence, He becomes sweeter to our hearts like honey in the honey comb. It takes time and effort to be with Him, dwell with Him, enjoy Him and exchange our wills with His perfect for us. This is how we know Him more and begin to delight in His person and His glory. We will grow in the knowledge of the Lord's glorious perfection. We will become more and more serious in our relationship with Him. That is when we desire to be like Him, talk like Him and walk like Him. This experience comes through His written Word and Spirit which will enable us to continuously surrender ourselves and renew our minds to know His will and comply with it. As we dwell more with Him, we will find that our will get itself lost in His will. Our desires and priorities will become His. In this process we delight in Him and His will in our lives. It will lead us to praise Him for all that happens to us. Instead of grumbling about our circumstances and situations, we will thank Him for who He really is and what He is pleased to do in and through our lives. This experience of delight in the Lord will fill our hearts with Him and His desires for our lives. Such a delight in Him will make us pray that His perfect will may be done in our lives. As we pray with delight in our hearts in and for Him and are willing to enjoy whatever that comes our way from Him, our prayers become His desires for us. This is when He gives us the desires of our hearts.

Dear friend, how well do you know the Lord and His perfect will? It depends on how much time you spend with Him on a daily basis. It is based on how often you and your Lord exchange desires, wills, priorities and likes with each other. It rests with your absolute surrender to His perfect will for you. It comes from the regular and continuous renewing of your minds to know His will, desires and mind for you. It flows to you on the basis of the written Word and how the Word is a delight to your heart. It is a reflection of how much you listen to the Lord and imbibe into the stream of His glory. If we do not delight in Him and His ways, it will be difficult for us to know His desires and will then be unable to pray according to His desires. Your intellectual mind will generate desires in you which are human, and the world around will help you to accomplish it for your own satisfaction. Simply because you are successful in what you do may not mean that it is the Lord's desire for you. There are pseudo desires which look so much like the Lord's desires, but are far from it. There are pseudo disciples who look so much like true disciples. Jesus said that you can distinguish them through their works because a tree is known by the fruit it bears. Let us handle this aspect of our prayer life fearfully and patiently by putting all our desires on the alter and allow God to send fire from above to burn it so that all fragrance will go to the Lord. When our Isaac's are on the alter, God can raise them up from there if it is His will. Let us today delight in the Lord and His glory and submit ourselves on His alter as true worship and make ourselves prepared to be burned off. Let us not be bothered what He might do with it so that all glory can go to Him. Let us only focus on delighting in the Lord so that He can allow His stream of delight to flow on to us.

Psalms 16:2 - I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing".

Thought for Today
When we exchange our desires with that of our Lord, our desires vaporize and disappear.



Friday, August 12, 2011

ANGELIC SECURITY SERVICE!!

Angelic Security Service!

Verse for Today: Friday, August 12, 2011
Psalms 34:7 -
The angel of the Lord encompass around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.

God delivers His children from their difficult situations through various means for His name sake. He interferes in our affairs to see to it that we do not get hurt from the wiles of the enemy of our souls. He protects us with His presence. His divine power is at work in and around us all the time because we are His precious children bought with a price. We are His special concern because we were earned by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. God would not suffer any small hurt for us here on earth. As He directs our path and keeps watch over us, He has also appointed His angels to be present in our situations to encompass around us. They have the responsibility to specially care for us and to meet our needs. Angels protect us and meet our needs as in the case of Elijah under a juniper tree and Peter in the prison. Angels are sent to announce good news as in the case of Mary and the shepherds. They are sent to guide us as in the case of the Magi. They are sent to comfort and strengthen His servants as in the case of Abraham. An angel was sent to help Eleazar to find a bride for Isaac. One angel was sufficient to handle one hundred and seventy three thousand in the enemy camp. Revelations are given by angels as we read about the case of John at Patmos. We see angels doing their ministries in the lives of Hagar, Gideon, Daniel, Paul and Peter. But God expects us to live in His fear and reverence as we anticipate the services of Angels in our day to day affairs. As we live for the Lord, He will have His angels around us to protect, warn, direct and deliver His children in their sojourn. We may not be able to see them with our naked eyes, but we can certainly experience their ministries in times of need.

Dear reader, isn't it wonderful that even when you cannot see them physically, the angels of the Lord are around you to minister to your needs even today? As the angels are the servants of God, they are also servants of His children. They have built a firewall around us with their presence so that the evil forces would not touch us. They watch over us as we ride the rough routes of life. They protect us from falling into dangers and encompass around us when dangers loom large. They provide various kinds of help to us in times of need. As these angels are always around us, we need to live with the awareness of their presence. It ought to comfort us that we are not alone, but are surrounded by the presence of God, the Spirit of God and the angels of God. These angels who are given charge of us never sleep nor do they depart from us until we reach our eternal home. When we have the awareness of the presence of the angels around us, it ought to make us alert in our daily lives and live carefully and fearfully to please God. We ought to thank the Lord for appointing these angels around us. We can feel the confidence that in all our situations, the angels are with us and around us to keep us safe, secure, confident and strong in the Lord. It should also make us live in the fear of the Lord every step of the way. Today let us enjoy greater confidence in the Lord for His special care for us by keeping the angelic forces around us to take care of all our needs and give us deliverance from our difficult situations for His glory.

Psalms 91:11 - For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Thought for Today
It is a great privilege to have the angels of God standing guard over us in all our situations.