Wednesday, February 29, 2012

NIGHTS OF PREPARATION!!

Nights of preparation!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Romans 13:12 – The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Night is not an end in itself. The night tells us that it will soon be over and the day will break. Darkness debilitates us and makes us fearful. It prevents us from seeing ahead. When our hearts are burdensome and when we do not know what to expect from the upcoming day, it is likely that an array of fierce thoughts loom large before us. In such moments of uncertainty and desperation we are led forward by the hope of a new day that is coming. Night is not for us to do things that are not right. Night is not for us to have a false sense of safety and security. Night is not for us to hide from people, situations and circumstances which we abhor and resent. But the dark night is a time for us to rest and relax and to evaluate our deeds of the previous day and praise God for all His blessings. It is a time to submit the upcoming day to the Lord and to prepare ourselves for the challenges it will bring. It is a time to spend a few quiet moments in the presence of the Lord and submit ourselves for another day by faith. It is a time of expectations and hope. It is a time of quiet meditation and prayer to the Lord for our inner anguishes. When all living beings sleep, our heavenly Father keeps watch over us. Many of His plans for us work behind the scene while we sleep. Sadly many think and plan dubious things in the darkest nights. Their minds are boggled with subtle schemes and they cook up smart ideas to be implemented for their temporary gains. But for a child of God, darkest nights are times to enjoy the brightest light of God shining in their hearts.

Dear reader, are you going through a time of darkness and night in your life? Are you groping for direction to go forward in your endeavors? Do you feel that you have lost the way and have no place to go? But you must remember that your Lord is with you in the darkest nights of your life to prepare you and your situations for a new day which is about to dawn. When His time comes, He will lift up the curtain of darkness and shed bright light into all your affairs. So there is no need for you to be in anguish about the present uncertainties and lack of clarity in your life. Right now He is preparing you for greater service. Perhaps you are going through a dark, damp and cold valley in your life and are unable to see the end of the tunnel. But you should be able to trust the Lord because it is He who is leading you through the dark valley. His holy presence is with you in the tunnel. Splendid things are lined up for you to handle for God’s glory. It is your privilege today to walk with the Lord in the darkest valley of life and learn how to move forward by faith each step of the way. It is a great blessing not to know the next step, but trust God to give you the grace to take that step forward. Let us not curse the darkness or be afraid of it. It was in the darkness that Abraham received the covenant from God. It was in the dark night in a strange land that Jacob saw the vision about the ladder from heaven. Some of the thrilling psalms of David came out of his experiences in dark caves. Mary Magdalene was able to see the risen Lord in the garden while it was still dark. Paul received reassurances from the Lord in the darkest of nights in dungeons. The angel of the Lord came to release Peter in the night. The same Lord is with you in your present experience in the night. You will soon see a new morning with bright rays of hope and expectations.

Psalms 91:5 – You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that strikes in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday.

Thought for Today

God prepares us in the darkest of nights for the brightest of days dawning before us.


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

THIRST QUENCHER: TRUE OR PSEUDO?

Thirst Quencher: True or Pseudo?

Verse for Today: Tuesday, February 28, 2012

John 7:37 – On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

Participation in a great religious ritual in Jerusalem left the people still thirsty though the true source of living water was there among them. But they had no time or opportunity to recognize Him and to go to Him to quench their inner thirst. They also didn’t know that the significance of the festival they attended was the Lord Jesus. This feast was probably the last chance these people would get to go to Jesus and get the drink of living water. They had the privilege to hear the announcement of the availability of living water. All that they had to do was to respond to His invitation. Today Jesus comes our way to quench our thirst for God and all that we crave for. He is offering it to us freely as He has paid its price with His life. Yet we often keep going with parched throats while still craving for the garbage that the world offers. Of course, the world is out there to attract us to its infected water. If we go after it, we will have to surrender our souls and all the opportunities this life gives us to drink the living water from Jesus. The world and its owner use subtle and cunning methods to attract us to possessions, prestige, popularity, prominence, position and prosperity. If we go after these, our thirst will increase and we will be forced to give our lives to buy more of it. Finally we will be left with parched throats and empty lives because these will only increase our thirst. But Jesus gives us a life of peace, joy and satisfaction which will change our desires and priorities. For us to enjoy His peace and satisfaction we need to leave our craving for all that the world offers and voluntarily go to Jesus to accept the water of life.

Dear reader, are you thirsting after the temporal things that this world offers? Many have gone that way and found their lives empty and lost. What the world offers never satisfies, but instead makes you its slave. But unless you willingly give up the desire to imbibe into the lukewarm water of wealth, knowledge, recognition, praise and acceptance that the world offers, it would be impossible to enjoy the life of rest that Jesus offers. If you drink the true water of life, it will kill your desire for the garbage and the lukewarm water that the world offers. Many have gone the way of the world and ruined their lives. Gehazi desired wealth which made him a leper. Achan wanted the forbidden loots of the world and ended up under a heap of stones. The heart of Mrs. Lot was in Sodom and she became a pillar of salt. Demas lost the opportunity for great ministry along with Paul. Miriam got into trouble when she sought recognition. Millions have gone the way of the world and lost the opportunity for true satisfaction that Jesus offered them. After all, who is interested in following a person who had no place to sleep when even birds and wild animals have their resting places! Yes, unless we are willing to denounce all that is offered by this world, we cannot find a satisfying way of life in Jesus. We cannot enjoy the best of both worlds, but will have to give one up for the other. When we choose one, we automatically loose the other. There is a choice before us today to either enjoy the peace and satisfaction offered by Jesus or the lukewarm and deceptive attractions of the world. There is a challenge to willingly take one and leave the other behind. Let us today choose the eternal bliss that Jesus offers freely instead of the temporal and costly garbage that the world offers. Once we choose Jesus, He will look after all our daily requirements as we walk with Him on our pilgrimage.

Isaiah 55:1 – Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Thought for Today

The world’s lukewarm water costs us our lives, but the Water of Life gives us a new life.


Monday, February 27, 2012

LABOR OF LOVE!!

Labor of love!

Verse for Today: Monday, February 27, 2012

Colossians 3:23&24 – Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Christ has taught us that just as we are hidden in Him, we should hide behind Him in all that we do for Him. Our mandate is to hide behind the cross and continue to serve the Lord in utter humility and surrender. But sometimes we feel sad when the people for whom we toil do not show any appreciation for all that we do for their spiritual welfare. This may be true about what we do outside the spiritual realm as well. This world will not appreciate what we do for them even though we do it as unto the Lord. He is merciful to the world and He expresses it in very many ways including what He moves us to do for them. The good work that we do in the world is God’s way of using us to touch the lives of people. We may never receive any appreciation for any thing that we do for those whom we live and have concern. The world is yet to give credit to the missionaries for their contribution to social, educational, health and linguistic development in the mission fields. But these are the ways by which the Lord uses His servants to touch the souls of people to sensitize them to gospel. We often find similar responses to our ministries in the churches and fellowships we are a part of. The hard work, toil, sweat, pain, tears and other sacrifices that the Lord enables us to put into the ministries are rarely understood in its depth and sincerity by the beneficiaries of our ministries. But we are reassured by the Lord in His Word that He knows what we do. He sees our toil for our fellow beings and for the household of faith. Here we might be resented and rejected as experienced by our Lord and His apostles and the great prophets like Jeremiah. Our task might not be as big as that of the apostles and prophets, but even the smallest ministry performed by the seemingly insignificant organ of the body will find proper recognition and appreciation by the Lord.

Dar reader, are you hurt by the resentment that you experience from others whom you serve as unto the Lord? Perhaps you are rejected by your dear ones in the family or church family and even by your colleagues in the ministry. It is likely that no one remembers the small things you do for the Lord and His people. But your Lord is faithful to remember your toil for Him and He will reward you at the right time. If you have lost sleep for the Lord, He will reward you with rest. If you have been embarrassed for the Lord, He will openly appreciate and recognize you in the presence of His angels. If you have sacrificed material things for the Lord, He will help you to find it all as multiplied investment in heaven. When you see the result of your toil in heaven, your tears will turn to joy. In this world, you might end your ministry with very little result, but the seed that you sowed will find sheaves in heaven. So dear reader, there is no reason for you to be discouraged about your toil. It is best not to expect any reward here on earth. Let us wait for the Lord to recognize us in heaven. Let our motive behind our labor for the Lord be our love and indebtedness to the Lord rather than our desire for a reward. Our responsibility is to work for the Lord and leave the result with Him. Let us be encouraged today as we toil for the Lord that He will bring our hard work to its proper completion. He will show us the results of our toil in His holy presence which is waiting for us.

1 Corinthians 3:8 – The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

Thought for Today

We serve because of love for the Lord who rewards according to our sacrifice of love for Him.

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Sunday, February 26, 2012

SYMPATHETIC TOUCH!!

Sympathetic touch!

Verse for Today: Sunday, February 26, 2012

Psalms 69:20b – I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.

Down through the centuries God’s children have found that they would not get genuine sympathy or comfort in this world. When we look around for sympathy, kindness, support and true loyalty, we are often deeply disappointed. Sometimes we get a bit of pseudo sympathy or temporary comfort. Even those who express some degree of help in times of our desperation often use words of judgment and condemnation. Job’s friends used hurting words to him in times of intense anguish. When David was driven out of Jerusalem by his own son Absalom, some of his loyalists quickly looked for new opportunities under the new king rather than sympathize with him. As Paul stood trial before the Caesar, none of the believers in Rome stood with him. Even when there were 7,000 prophets who never bent their knees before Ahab and Jezebel, none of them stood with Elijah out in the open. Jeremiah was one of the loneliest persons during his time of ministry and he found opposition and condemnation from all around. When Jesus was arrested, all His beloved disciples ran away from Him. Yes, it is very difficult to find sympathy or comfort for our aching and weary hearts during times of miserable experiences. If at all we find some sympathy, it would be largely momentary and they all soon leave us one after the other. But in all such situations, our Lord comes to us with words and acts of comfort. When all others forget us, our Lord will not forsake us. In our times of distress, He sends His angel to strengthen and build us up. When we are hungry, He will send heavenly bread and water. When we are all alone, He will give us greater visions of His glory to fortify us. In times of danger, He will open our eyes to see the protection He has erected around us. When we have no one to talk to, He will come with words of comforting and encouraging answers to our anguishes. He reassures us that He will release us from our loneliness. He will make us drink from His river of delights to satisfy all our cravings for sympathy. We will enjoy His sympathy and comfort under His wings of love and safety.

Dear reader, is your heart longing for sympathy and comfort in your difficult situation today? Have you been waiting for someone to come and touch your life with a drop of kindness? Perhaps you are living in a parched ground where not even grass grows. Perhaps your desert experiences leave you with unquenchable thirst and hot sandy wind which blind your eyes and distract you from the way. But in times of distress, let us not be tempted to look around for help from the dearest and nearest. Your true and lasting source of comfort and sympathy is your Lord on whom you are able to lean on to. He holds you in His everlasting arms and protects you under His wings. His touch makes His power flow to you to help you withstand the pressures of life. His eyes look at you with sympathy, love and kindness. He comes to pour the oil of gladness on to your distressed heart for healing. He applies the wine of joy to the emotional wounds which this cruel world inflicts upon you. When others run away from you, He will stay with you all the way till you get out of the present distress. He also wants to use your present experience to strengthen you to face similar situations in the future. Under His wings you will find coolness to your weary and battered life. He will fill you with eternal words of comfort and sympathy and reassure you that even if all others forsake you, He will never leave you alone. So seek after His sympathy and understanding today. Lean on to Him to enjoy His company and fellowship as you struggle to weather away the pain and misery that this world gives you.

Psalms 36:7 – How precious is your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Thought for Today

Our Lord sympathizes with us in our distress and touches us with His kind and comforting hands.


Saturday, February 25, 2012

FEAST AT HIS RIVERBANK!!

Feast at His Riverbank!

Verse for Today: Saturday, February 25, 2012

Psalms 36:8 – They feast in the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of delights.

It is delightful for a starving person to be at a feast and have a fill for the tummy and the eyes. The feast has so much more than a person can devour. It satisfies all the cravings of a hungry person. Not only that, there is so much to drink from a whole river that is made available to the thirsty soul. This again fills the body and the eyes. Only those who have experienced true hunger and thirst will know the significance of immeasurable quantity of excellent food and satiating drink. Those hungry and thirsty souls who come to the Lord to meet their cravings have this opportunity to meet all their needs abundantly. They may be starving for love, mercy, peace and rest. The earthly sources cannot satisfy our cravings and satisfy our souls’ desires and sometimes even our physical and temporary needs cannot be fully met by them. They give us temporary and pseudo satisfaction and leave us at their mercy for each meal or drink. The more we take what the world offers, the more we want. The world creates hunger and thirst for knowledge, entertainment, position, power, possessions, popularity and prestige. The more we find these, the deeper our cravings will be for it all. But ultimately these will leave our hearts empty and lurching. All who went that way have been grossly frustrated. But if we want lasting satisfaction, we must go to the presence of the Lord where an abundant spiritual feast on the Lord’s riverbank. If we are denied love in our lives by our dear ones, we can enjoy unconditional love from the Father and the Savior. The world gives us some empty bottles with misleading labels, it demands all of what we have in return. But God loves us without expecting any thing in return. The peace that is available in His presence is peace that passes all understanding in any difficult circumstance. His feast grants unspeakable joy in spite of all our circumstances. He gives us a fountain of a river to drink from and the water of life in that river is the spiritual delight of all that a dry and parched life craves for. There is guarantee of full, abundant and permanent satisfaction of all our cravings at this great feast for the souls. We have an open and loving invitation to this feast and the door is open for us to go in and devour.

Dear reader, are you craving for a bit of unselfish love today? Is your soul aching for a drop of peace in your soul so as to rest for a while? Are you tired of knocking at the doors of the world to satisfy you and finding yourself left abandoned with pseudo satisfaction? There is a feast of heavenly bliss and satisfaction waiting for you today to satisfy all your innermost cravings. If you spend time with the Lord in His presence, He will fill you with His Spirit who will satisfy your needs for love, peace and rest. Your loneliness will be replaced with uninterrupted fellowship of Triune God. If you are locked up by situations in the dark dungeons of life, your Lord will be with you to talk to you and wipe away all your anguishes and pain. Your prison cell will be filled with the sweet aroma of His presence. He will wipe your tears and fill your life with divinely delightful and rich experiences. If your needs are emotional, physical, social, livelihood or of a weak faith, He will meet those needs according to His rich resources. He will open magnificent doors for you to enter into unthinkably new areas of service for the Lord. Even as you are probably struggling in the realities of life, the Lord will use you to touch other lives which go through great needs of various kinds. Today you are invited to go to His presence and devour from His table of delights and to His stream to drink to the brim and use your energy to touch the depraved lives around us.

Psalms 23:2 – (The Lord) makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.

Thought for Today

When we go to the Lord begging for bread, He surprises us into a fabulous feast of rich heavenly blessings at the bank of His river of living water.




Friday, February 24, 2012

ESCORTED BY ROD AND STAFF!!

Escorted by rod and staff!

Verse for Today: Friday, February 24, 2012

Psalms 23:4b – I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

When we truly and wholeheartedly believe that the Lord is with us at all times, there cannot be any scope whatsoever for us to have even an iota of fear. If we believe that the Lord is all sufficient in all our situations, there is no scope for us to be anxious about our future. When we believe that the Lord is by our side, how can any evil ever come to possess us? So even when seemingly bad things happen to us, they are not the end of the story because our Lord works it all together for our good. Our belief about His presence with us has to be understood in terms of its positive realities and possibilities and never in terms of any negative probabilities. These negative probabilities, if nurtured in our hearts, will develop anxiety in us instead of causing us to praise Him. Whatever that comes our way will work together for our good even though sometimes they may not be seen to be good. So we will have to equip our minds with the help of the Spirit of God to think and believe that there is no reason for us to be fearful because He will not allow any evil thing to destroy us. If any evil thought comes, our Shepherd has His rod and His staff to comfort us. If we hand over all our situations for Him to handle, He will use His rod to drive away the evil and negative thoughts along with all fears and anxieties and cause us to praise Him. If we ever lean towards any evil and negative thoughts and feelings, His staff will pull us back to His presence. Thus His road and staff perform wonderful ministries of comfort for us by standing guard.

Dear reader, are you living with the full realization that you are the sheep of the Great Shepherd? A battle is going on for your mind with its thoughts and feelings. The enemy of your soul will try to disturb your life with fears and anxieties through thoughts of negative probabilities. He wants to batter you with the consequences of these probabilities. But you are in the fold of your Shepherd who leads you to His quiet waters and green pastures where you will find enough remedies for negative thoughts and probabilities in your life. Jesus had to ask the disciples to live practically by trusting in the Lord and not in probabilities. He is the guard at the door of your heart to prevent any negative thoughts or probabilities from entering. His rod will drive them away and His staff will pull your heart from going their way and become fearful and anxious. But such experiences are available to only those who continue to dwell in His presence. Even as our Lord keeps our hearts at peace with Him, we also need to have a life of continuous surrender to Him. Whenever the evil one comes to drag us to negative thoughts and probabilities, we must resist him and his seemingly intelligent probabilities. We must rebuke these negative thoughts, fears and anxieties and commit them to the Lord for proper disposal. David trusted his Shepherd when he passed through negative thoughts and reasonable probabilities which haunted him. Joseph had to overcome negative thoughts when he was in the pit and in the dungeon. Negative thoughts would have spoken visibly and loudly to Daniel in the den as the lions looked at him. But at every such moment, his Shepherd used His rod and staff to keep Daniel’s heart at peace with Him. Our Lord did the same ministries to all His servants as they were tempted by the evil one with his tactics of negative thoughts and probabilities. He is with us today to ward off all negative thoughts from our hearts and prove to us that we have no probabilities, but only possibilities in and through Him. We become more than conquerors in all of our negative circumstances because of our Shepherd’s rod and staff for which we praise Him.

Mark 9:23 - "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

Thought for Today

With the escorting ministries of the rod and the staff of the Lord on either side, we can overcome all fears, anxieties and doubts in our walk with Him.


Thursday, February 23, 2012

PEACE IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!!

Peace in all circumstances!

Verse for Today: Thursday, February 23, 2012

1 Thessalonians 3:16 – Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

In a world of chaos, confusion, conflict and competition, every one is scrambling for peace. But they try to achieve peace through worldly wisdom and technology which only enhances confusion rather than creating peace. Worldly wisdom makes us run faster and create enormous connectivity with others which increases our conflicts and competition and sows the seeds of conflicts and competition. Thus the more we try to use worldly wisdom, the more restless we become. Thus man is swallowed by heightened restlessness, fights, conflicts, disagreements, emotional and physical health problems and sleeplessness. All our efforts to achieve peace through human wisdom remain a mirage. But Jesus offers us peace because He is the Prince of Peace. He gives peace to those who seek it from Him with their whole heart. In order to enjoy peace, we must first admit that our efforts have grossly failed to achieve peace through our own methods and wisdom. Then we must surrender ourselves to the Prince of Peace to change our hearts to be able to receive His peace in all circumstances. It comes first when we strike peace with God by trusting Jesus as our personal Savior. Peace with God will equip us to have peace in all circumstances. So when we go through distressing and conflicting circumstances, we must be sober enough to commit such situations to the Lord and ask Him to take control of it. He is the owner of the treasure house of heaven which is full of peace that passes all understanding and will shower it on us when we need it most.

Dear friend, are you craving for peace in your heart right now when your circumstances are tough? Are there people who are used by the enemy of your soul to try to steal your peace and rest away from you? Is your situation of failure, loss, ill-health, shortages and conflict taking your peace, rest and sleep away? Are you gasping for a breath of fresh air in a cluttered and congested environment of conflict and confusion? But you have the privilege today to go to the Prince of Peace and ask Him for perfect peace in spite of your circumstances, situations and the people around you. You can exchange your situation with His peace and rest. If you are willing to surrender and commit your cluttered and foggy situation of chaos and confusion to Him, He will take it away and give you His peace in exchange. He will interfere in your situation and straighten out your scenario for your peace. His peace will take away your anxieties and anguishes. In His presence you will find a fearless disposition because your Lord has taken over your restless situation and given you the blessing of rest and comfort. Sometimes even when the situation is not at rest, you can enjoy rest. When your Lord is in your boat, you can leave your volatile surroundings to Him and relax. You can learn from Joseph, Peter and Paul how to enjoy peace and rest in the most perilous circumstances. The peace that Noah enjoyed while in the ark during the flood is unexplainable. Paul enjoyed such peace when he could not see sunlight for several days during his voyage as a prisoner to Rome. The height of peace that John experienced while in exile in Patmos is incomprehensible to the human mind, but Patmos took John to the heights of heaven and filled him with visions about the glorious future waiting for him. Such peace is available for us today because we are the sheep of His pasture living under His wings and drinking from His cool waters. Today let us enjoy His perfect peace, rest and sound sleep in the midst of turmoil.

Psalms 29:11 - The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord bless His people with peace.

Thought for Today

God’s peace doesn’t depend on our circumstances, but on His gracious willingness to give us His peace in all our circumstances.


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

GOD'S ARMS FOR MY NEEDS!!

God’s Arms for My Needs!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Numbers 11:23 – The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

God is concerned that His children believe Him and His promises. When God says something, it will be accomplished without regard to the magnitude of the task. Size or volume is not a limitation to God who is beyond all human measurements. The One who created everything out of nothing can and will accomplish all that pleases Him irrespective of circumstances. His arms do not weaken even when Moses’ arms become weak and tired and would need someone to support it. He wants to challenge us today to test and see whether He keeps His word or not. No one has so far taken this challenge from God because God has never relented on His promises. His power is unlimited and so is His strength to accomplish any thing that is in His perfect will. But doubts and unbelief creep into our thoughts as we look at the magnitude of our needs. Will it be possible for water to become true and tasty wine with proper texture? Can He feed thousands with meager means? Can people be made to cross a sea without boat or bridge? Can He heal a woman who would get up instantly and prepare and serve meals for a group of 13 men? Can He stop storms and make people walk on billows? Will His words bring forth unprecedented catch of fish? Can He stop the mouth of lions and the flames of a furnace? Yes, these are all difficult for us to fathom, but no concern for God. The size of our need often challenges us to think that it is not reasonable to assume it to take place. We find it difficult to think that within the shortest span of time, God can bring in great miracles. This thought pulls us backward in our prayers and our expectations. Today we are asked to test whether God’s arm is too short to accomplish anything that He has promised. We must answer whether God’s reputation is at stake any time because of man’s faithlessness and doubt? If our expectations are low, what we receive might also be much less than what He wants to give us.

Dear friend, is your circumstance challenging you today to lower your expectations of what God would do in your life? Perhaps your lower expectations are because of your poor understanding of the unlimited powers of God. We must also understand that God has no stress or strain in fulfilling His promises unlike man who has to strive to keep his promises. When God does something to keep His promises, His strength is not drained out nor does His power become less. He is in eternal perfection in power and strength. This power is demonstrated beyond the limits of dimensions of human thinking and expectations. This is why it is important for us to believe that there is absolutely nothing that is ever impossible for Him. His arms are perfectly strong to accomplish all things according to His perfect will. His hands are long enough to reach any part of the universe at any time to handle anything as He pleases. At the same time, His hands are full of grace to touch our hearts with the softness of His love to strengthen us to believe what He has promised. Such a soft touch will lift our sagging spirits up and fortify our paled expectations to colorful levels. Today God Almighty wants us to surrender our unbelieving hearts for Him to remold it to believe in His words, power and compassionate willingness to meet all the needs of all His children according to the magnitude of His riches in glory. Will we take Him at His word today and believe that His power is sufficient for all our needs in all circumstances and at all times? If so, it settles all our situations in Him so that we can relax in His presence and laugh at any impossibility.

Psalms 27:13 – I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Thought for Today

God’s power is far beyond what a puny man’s petty needs would demand.




Tuesday, February 21, 2012

RIDICULE TO RECOGNITION!!

Ridicule to recognition!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Psalms 123:4 – We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.

Israel as a nation endured great ridicule and contempt from their neighbors and suffered much emotional distress. They were hated and despised by their enemy countries and their kings. As they were nomads, their fate was to be in contempt. Their enemies looked for reasons every day to ridicule them and laugh and scoff at them. Their patriarchs and prominent leaders were always scoffed at. The enemy of their souls used their neighbors and friends to curse them and fight with them at every available opportunity. This has caused tremendous distress in their hearts and they wondered why they were so much in ridicule day after day. Whenever they lost a war or some unfortunate thing happened to them, their enemies laughed at them. At one time, their temple was in ruins and the wall of their city was a heap of garbage. While they were in exile, their enemies had enough reasons to laugh at them. They with their leaders found only ridicule and contempt wherever they went. Their Messiah was also ridiculed by the religious and political community. Gospel has always been prey to despise and contempt. But the enemies do not realize that the people of God start with victory and moves into greater victory. Our bright destiny has already been written. We are marching to greater victory and are more than conquerors. But as humans, we are susceptible to discouragement which our enemy tries to capitalize on. He comes around to add pepper on our wounds through insults. He is looking into our minutest failures to laugh at us. But when we are emotionally distressed because of our failures and setbacks, we can go to our Lord and tell Him about it. He hears our heart cry and comes to soothe our broken and wounded hearts.

Dear reader, are you enduring ridicule and insults from people around you? When you absorb all the pain from the mockery, your Lord comes to sympathize with your failures and losses and gives you strength to move forward to greater victory. Ai might be a place of loss and defeat on a day, but when we correct our ways, there will be victory at Ai again. At the shores of Read Sea with the roaring billows, the enemy might be waiting for us to sink and disappear. When we are in the boat and distressed because of the billows, the enemy might think that we would soon drown. No one expected Joseph to come out of the pit or the dungeon to save the Egyptian people. People would only expect to see our bones at the mouth of the lions and smoked carcass in the furnace. But our God lives and He will bring us out of every impossible situation for the praise of His name. Those who ridicule and condemn us will one day see that our Lord accomplishes His purpose in us. He will lift up our heads and our banner in due season. If you are going through a time of ridicule and contempt from fellow human beings, tell it to Jesus who went through such bitter experiences for you. He will give you the grace to go through mockery and insults with praise in our mouths. You might be like a hit pad in the dressing room of the boxer and every one might be hitting you hard. If their ego will find a vent by hitting you, let them do it, but your Lord will give you the grace to take it all for His glory. Let people sling mud at you at every occasion and gossip about you, but your Lord will keep transforming you into His likeness. Down through the ages, all God’s children go through such bitter experiences, but the Lord turns it all around for His glory. He will equip you to go through it all and take all ridicule as an honor. Today if you are despised, insulted and condemned, learn to praise God for it and pray for those who insult you. Pray for grace to endure it joyfully and ask the Lord to insulate you from it’s the wreckage.

Psalms 69:12 – Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.

Thought for Today

The battered child of God marches from ridicule to recognition in God’s presence.


Monday, February 20, 2012

NO RETALIATION!!

No retaliation!

Verse for Today: Monday, February 20, 2012

1 Peter 2:23 – When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

The Jewish mob and the Roman soldiers who insulted and persecuted Jesus had no idea who He really was. Their atrocities against Him were largely out of their thinking that He was yet another social criminal. But their criminal acts against Him were a matter of identity crisis because they were the real criminals and He was the only innocent person around. Even in such a situation, Jesus never grumbled, retaliated or challenged them. He submitted Himself to be reviled against without which they would not even have touched Him. Thus Jesus set before us a great example of how to respond to injustice. We live in a world full of injustice, prejudice, arrogance, oppression and ridicule against God’s children. These atrocities are the instruments of the enemy of God who often uses people to fight against God’s children with these cruel weapons. We are intimidated and challenged through their oppressive behaviors and attitude to depress and discourage us. These are ultimately the enemy’s plot to push us to stumble from our walk with Jesus. The intensity of oppression is to distract us from our commitments to the Lord and to drag us away from His pathways. But Lord Jesus has set an example for us to develop divine response to such oppressive behaviors of the enemy. He wants us to entrust our grievances to God who is the righteous Judge. If we ask Him for strength to endure such severe pressure and challenges, He will give us abundance of His grace to go through it all. He will give us patience and maturity to handle the subtle tactics of the enemy. He will fill us with His Spirit to control our emotions and responses. His desire is that we learn to praise Him for all difficult situations and circumstances rather than react in anger. Jesus doesn’t permit us to fight back using the weapons of flesh. Instead He wants us to use His weapons like love, grace, patience, maturity, prayer, forgiveness and peace.

Dear reader, are you facing injustice, prejudice, arrogance, suppression and persecution from the people around you? These atrocities come usually from those whom you love and care for. When persecutions come from the loved ones in our circle of friendship, our own kith and kin, co-workers and fellow believers, the hurt is all the more painful and intimidating. But you must understand that people have sadly become instruments of the enemy of your soul. But such situations will not pass away except through prayer and fasting. In the meanwhile, we need to ask the Lord to give us His strength to handle these oppressions in love, patience and grace with which the Lord deals in us. If reactive behavioral patterns of anger, revenge, retort, conflict, arguments, fights, bitterness and arrogance which might come from us, they are all weapons of the flesh which we must denounce. Instead, we must ask the Lord to give us His Spirit to take control of our emotions and attitudes so that the weapons of flesh will not emanate from us under any circumstance. Our Lord will fill us with His Spirit who is the Spirit of humility, perseverance and joy when reviled and mocked. We are admonished by the Word to use goodness and godliness to win over evil. Our response should be in love and our conversation should be with concern for the souls of those who intimidate us. We must guard against any untoward reactions and submit all our concerns and heart aches to the Lord to handle. He will handle our intimidators at His time and in His way. Once we hand all our difficult situations to the Lord, we can be free from the bondage of negative reactions when reviled against and despised. Our Lord will comfort and encourage us to carry our cross to walk on Calvary Road and follow Him. He will strengthen our weak minds to bear these burdens of mockery, and will reward us for our patience in times of distress.

Matthew 5:10 – Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Thought for Today

Bearing the cross of mockery, insult, injustice and oppression will be preparation for wearing the crowns prepared for us.


Sunday, February 19, 2012

FURROWS OF JOY!!

Furrows of Joy!

Verse for Today: Sunday, February 19, 2012

Psalms 129:3 – Ploughmen have ploughed my back and made their furrows long.

The realization that we live and serve our God in enemy territory explains all our painful experiences in their proper perspective. Our environment is controlled by the enemy. His agents are always on the move to create brutal circumstances to cause us to suffer to challenge our faith. If an iota of doubt is cast into our hearts, he feels successful because to that extent he is able to prevent our God from receiving praise from our hearts. The enemy looks for opportunities to inflict physical and emotional distress to cause us pain and weaken our faith. He tried this strategy with Job, Paul and other servants of God. He caused unexplainable emotional distress to Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Daniel and Paul. It was like plowing on their emotions with long furrows. But God used those experiences to strengthen their faith. It is true that God’s people are battered by the enemy from all sides. Their lives are never a bed of roses, but of thorns and thistles. Down through the ages, scores of God’s servants had to go through tremendous physical and emotional torture from the world. Our enemy is sadistic and brutal like a wild animal. He shows no mercy, but only cruelty. Sometimes we create opportunities for the enemy to inflict distress to us. Our human vulnerabilities are well utilized by the enemy through the world system. We face gossip, misunderstandings and distortions even from the household of faith. When we are thus inflicted and bruised, and as we endure tremendous trauma, the enemy will only add insult to our injuries to totally devastate us. But there is a Balm in Gilead which is the panacea to heal the furrows in our emotions and bodies. We are healed by the stripes of our Lord who was also mistreated by the enemy. If the enemy has not spared our Lord, will he spare us? But there is glory after we go through the cross. As we face brutal attacks from the enemy, we would come out like jewels which have undergone tremendous pressure and heat.

Dear reader, are you going through bitter experiences in life which cause tremendous emotional and physical pain? Are you being battered with unfair criticism, character assassination, loss of dignity and reputation, misrepresentation and misinterpretation of your words or deeds? When the enemy uses people who are dear to you, the pain seem to increase without leaps and bounds. But your greatest comfort today comes your Lord who endured the same treatment form this world. If you are under the attack of the enemy, it is an indication that you truly follow the Lord. The enemy will use all possible means to weaken your faith, pull you back and make you stumble from your spiritual walk. His cruel attack will be like plowing on your emotions with long and deep furrows. It takes longer to heal an emotional wound as compared to a physical bruise. But our Lord will be with us as we go through such experiences to strengthen us. He will minister unto our emotional and spiritual needs and give us strength and grace to endure the pain caused by bitter experiences. He is the Balm of Gilead and will soothe and heal our broken heart. He was in the dungeon to soothe the heart of Joseph and Paul. He was with Daniel while he was in the lion’s den. He was with Jacob when he thought all was lost. He was with the Hebrew youth when they were in the fiery furnace. He was with Job when he endured unexplainable physical and emotional trauma. Yes, there are times when we are plowed with long furrows. But our Lord will make channels of blessings out of the furrows. He will help us to sing songs of deliverance in the midst of our dungeon experiences. He will heal us of all our emotional injuries and make us whole. The enemy will not have victory over us because our future is secure in the Lord. He has already planned a wonderful eternity for us where the tactics of the enemy will not enter. This hope is sufficient for us to keep moving forward with praise in our hearts and smile on our faces.

Psalms 129:2 – They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained victory over me.

Thought for Today

The grace of our Lord turns our painful furrows into channels of joy and praise.


Saturday, February 18, 2012

TEARFUL SOWING TURNS INTO JOYFUL HARVEST!!

Tearful sowing turns into joyful harvest!

Verse for Today: Saturday, February 18, 2012

Psalms 126:6 – He who goes out weeping, carrying seeds to sow will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him.

The burdens and tears of the sower as he goes out to sow the seeds are phenomenal. Often he is alone with no one to sympathize with him. He goes out carrying the heavy burden of the ministry in his heart. His tears irrigate the soil and his seeds are sowed with the hope of a harvest. He knows that he has some time to wait for the seeds to grow and bring forth yield. His life is centered around the hope that the seeds that he sows will brings forth sheaves. At the sowing season, he undergoes the pain of expectancy and waiting. People will be happy to see his sheaves and join in the harvest, but none would be with him as he undergoes the pain of carrying burdens and the resultant tears. Sowing is a time of loneliness and misery which no one understands. As we all go through a time of sowing in our ministries, we have special burdens and pain. We have to watch to make sure that our field is kept soaked in tears. If we do not keep the soil soaked, it will become parched and will dry up the seeds. The seeds that we sow might be eaten by birds. We have to guard our crops from being eaten away by wild or domestic animals. This is true whether our field is our personal testimony, our families or our churches. We are called upon to sow the seeds, soak the fields with tears and guard the fields from intruders. It requires a lot of patience and expectancy. Our encouragement comes from the hope that is embodied in the seed that we sow that it will germinate, grow and bring forth several folds of yield. Today we might be discouraged and disillusioned with the pain of tilling, sowing and irrigating. But our hope about the harvest will keep the process of cultivating joyful. One of these days, the harvest will be announced when we will be able to find the results of our hard work and toil in the field of the Lord and will be able to sing joyful songs because the Master of the Fields gives us a bountiful harvest.

Dear reader, are you discouraged today because of the pain and misery of sowing seeds in the most unfavorable weather and environment? Often the enemy of the Master will whisper in our ears that our toil is in vain and that there will be no yield for our toils and tears. But remember that the seed and the field belong to the Master who has implanted life in the seed. It will not come back void, but will bring forth results in due season. Perhaps your field is badly parched which would require you to cry more to soak it. Many fields have hard and impenetrable soil which demands more tears to drench it. We need a lot of patience to handle our fields. More tears shed will better prepare our fields. Our seeds also need to be soaked so that it will germinate sooner. But all of these patient and painful experiences will be rewarded with a splendid harvest. Our Lord will wipe our tears away from our eyes and help us to see a harvest. But it will only commensurate with the extent to which we toil in the field. The more tears we shed, the greater will be the yield. If we ignore the field, it will bring forth very little yield. Let us sow the seeds of grace, love, patience and compassion. If we sow thorns and thistles, we will only reap thorns and thistles. If we sow seeds of envy, competition, conflict, resentment, partiality, arrogance and pride, we will reap these in due season which will increase our tears rather then bring forth joy. Let us today sow the seeds of the Master in His field and wait with great expectancy to reap several folds so that we can carry the sheaves on our shoulders with joyful songs in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 9:6 – Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Thought for Today

The pain, tears and misery of sowing will be transformed into a splendid harvest of joy which will deepen our humility.


Friday, February 17, 2012

SUPERNATURAL COVER!!

Supernatural Cover!

Verse for Today: Friday, February 17, 2012

Psalms 124:5 – Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.

The rage of people blow on us like flood with enormous power to annihilate us. Their enmity is fierce and their hatred is devastating. They use all the arms in their arsenal to fight us to total defeat. They are committed to engulf us so that we would no longer be in their vicinity. All of their rage is because of the stand we take for God. Sometimes their rage emerges and bursts into open attack because of suspicion. At other envy and competition motivate them to malign us. Some experience insecurity when people like David come into the arena. David was a great musician, composer, successful warrior, man of eloquence and efficient, along with a charismatic personality. Those who met him developed a liking for him which created feeling of intimidation for his competitors. So they gathered together to use all the weapons in their armory against David to get rid of him. The brothers of Joseph used the same tactics against him to eliminate him from the scene to make them more secure. Nehemiah’s enemies tried to do the same to stop him from doing what He did for the Lord. King Ahab tried to do the same with Elijah. The religious mob tried to wipe out Jeremiah along with his message which was a great inconvenience to them. Daniel faced similar predicament in Babylon. The Jewish leaders and false teachers tried to damage the ministry of Paul. But the Lord kept all of them going until the ministries He had planned for them were completed. When the rage of the enemies blew against His servants, the Lord stood between them and the flood to prevent them from being swallowed by the billows. We are all sustained till today because our Lord stands between us and the raging waters. He allowed the rage to blow on Him so that it would not hurt us. We can go forward with confidence in Him when the going gets tough and situations become rough.

Dear reader, are you facing flood waters, storms, hurricane and tornadoes in your life which try to annihilate you? If you look at the way they blow on you, you will definitely be scared. But they often emerge without notice. They catch us unaware and we may not have time to look for a cover. Perhaps today you are facing such flood and wind in your work place, school, family, business or even in your church. It is likely that opposition is brewing behind your back and you might not even find it out until all possible maligning and damage have been caused to your testimony and ministry. But we have an anchor in our Lord who is our buffer. He knows the secret plots of the enemy brewing behind your back. But today we are comforted by the song of David that our Lord stands between us and our enemies so prevent us from their rage to engulf us. He gives us cover in times of such distress and threats. If you look at the flood with its rage, you will be frightened and disturbed. But if you look at the Lord who is your cover, you will not see the rage and will not have any cause to fear. Your Lord is willing to stand between you and your situations to absorb all the pressures coming your way. He will cover you adequately so that the rage will not affect you. As you see the Lord, you can start praising Him for who He is and what He is doing for you. When the enemy’s anger puffs us, there is no point in being smart by using your own strategies and intelligence. Our ideas are no match for the crafty enemy who uses powerful people in subtle ways against us. Let us today take refuge in the Lord to take all the punches from the enemy on Himself so that we would be spared.

Psalms 124:6 – Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.

Thought for Today

When the Lord is our cover, no force in this universe will cause us harm.




Thursday, February 16, 2012

CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER!!

Confidence in prayer!

Verse for Today: Thursday, February 16, 2012

1 John 5:14 – This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us.

Prayer is based on knowledge about God to whom we address our needs. His character as the prayer hearing and prayer answering God gives us confidence to approach Him. Understanding the depth and height of His riches in glory makes us bold in asking Him to meet all our needs. He is pleased to give all that we need to live a godly life here on earth and prepare ourselves for our life hereafter. It is His will that all our needs are met according to His riches in glory. He expects us to live here as the children of the Heavenly King and He has guaranteed that He will give us all good things to enjoy. Our God is the greatest giver. No one else can give more than He gives. The things that He wants to give us are unique and unparalleled to any thing that is offered by this world. Whereas what God gives satisfies us abundantly, what the world gives us leaves us empty and wanting more and more. This knowledge about our God gives us proper insight about what to ask Him. He will only give us what is good for us and will never give us any thing that is detrimental to our spiritual life. Knowing His mind about what is good for us will help us to ask Him to give us what is best for us. Such prayers are according to His perfect will. We will thus be able to pray for all that He wants to give us according to His will and He will surely give it to us as well. As we pray, we will thus be able to develop great confidence about what we should ask Him. We need the renewing of our minds to know His will which emerges out of our brokenness before Him. Then He makes us alive in Him with His thoughts, desires, likes, dislikes, priorities and time lines.

Dear friend, do you go to the Lord with the confidence that what you ask Him will be given to you when you pray? Do you know what the will of the Father for you is with regard to all the big and small things in your life? Are you able to pray that none of your desires may be accomplished, but only what the Lord wants should be done in your life? In order to know His will, you need to meet with your Lord for serious interactions. Through these interactions of meditation, prayer and reading of His Word, you will be able to sense what He wants in your life. Thus you can prepare your prayer list and go to Him to present it with full confidence that the Lord will grant it. If you are sincere in your heart towards Him, He will reveal His perfect will for you in all areas of your life. You will then be able to pray for those things and receive what you ask for. It is unlikely that any one of us will want to have any thing that the Lord would not permit in our lives. But the secret of not getting what He doesn’t want to give us is to get to know Him and His desires for us. This will help us to develop holy boldness and confidence to ask Him to meet our particular needs according to His riches in glory. Your prayer ought to be for His will to be accomplished in your life and not for Him to give us what you think is best for you. If you pray sincerely, He will tone your heart and sensitize your will to find this out. Any thing other than what He permits in your life is not ordained of the Lord. The secret of a committed life is to know the Lord you follow intimately to find out what He wants you to have and then ask that it be given according to His will and pleasure. Then you are under obligation use it for His glory and for the praise of His name.

Romans 12:2 – Do not confirm any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Thought for Today

The more we know Him, the better we will understand His perfect will for us.




Wednesday, February 15, 2012

JOYFUL RESPONSE!!

Joyful response!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, February 15, 2012

1 Peter 4:14 – If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

When the name of Jesus is expressed in our behaviors and attitudes, the enemy of Jesus will become restless. When Jesus is glorified, the enemy gets agitated. When we respond to situations as Jesus would have responded, the enemy becomes furious. In such circumstances, the enemy will use people, circumstances and situations to diffuse our stand for Jesus. One of the ways by which the enemy fights against us at such times is to use people to insult, mock and fight with us. We are ridiculed for our stand for Jesus. When we do not do what they ask us to do because of the Spirit of Jesus who lives in us, people get irritated and angry. Such responses of hatred will take several forms like ridicule, insult, mockery, gossip, misrepresentation, misinterpretation, false allegations, creating false evidences against us, denial of our rights and privileges, false propaganda and the like. Sometimes we loose our reputation, our jobs, business, property and are even made socially outcast. Sometimes the enemy uses people within our own fellowship circles to level sad, unfortunate and false allegations against us. Sometimes the enemy creates suspicions and withdraws support for us in our ministries and maligns our testimonies through other believers. But when the enemy does all of these, we are and ought to be a blessed or happy set of people because we are privileged to go though the experience of rejection which our Lord endured during His public ministry. But our response to suffering for the sake of our Lord is our special privilege. We can praise God in such situations as enabled by the Spirit of God who lives in us and encourage and comfort us in our ordeals. Suffering insult and rejection for the Lord is the least that we can experience as a response to all that our Lord endured for us.

Dear reader, are you going through a time of rejection, insults and maligning because you take a stand for your Lord? It could be your testimony in the work place, school, neighborhood, church or community that causes you to suffer. It could be the stand you take against the currents of this world that make the world hates and despises you. When your life and the principles you hold make it a great inconvenience for others, they would try to intimidate you in different ways. Rejection is painful and ignoring you is heart-breaking, especially by those whom you loved and served. Paul had these experiences of rejection and resentment from the household of faith. Joseph had such experiences from his brothers, employer and co-prisoners. Moses experienced bitter resentment from his brother and sister. Nehemiah had painful opposition from the enemies of God. Mordecai was plotted against by the high officials of the palace. Job’s friends tried to find fault with him when he was in his worst situations. David was chased by his own people to wipe him out of the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ was left behind by his beloved disciples when he was arrested and they didn’t show their allegiance when He was tried and crucified. But in all these painful experiences, God gave them all His joy and peace to praise Him and to continue to respond with His joy in their hearts. The same Lord with His Spirit dwells in our hearts to strengthen and empower us to keep going in spite of bitter opposition. When others turn their faces away from us, He makes His face shine upon us. When others refuse to talk to us, He will make His soft voice of comfort and encouragement heard in our ears and hearts. His Spirit will fill us with His joy so that we can be happy when we experience insults from others. Though we face insults today, He will openly recognize us in the presence of His angels. So let us look to the Lord to strengthen us to face our troubled situations and be hold in facing our resentful circumstances with confidence in our Lord and in the power of His Spirit.

Hebrews 13:13 – So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

Thought for Today

The dark clouds of rejection and insults by man will be overshadowed by the brightness of the glory of the Lord and the thrill of the recognition He will give us at the bema.

CONTACT US: todayintheword@gmail.com

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

REWARD OF GREATER CONFIDENCE!!

Reward of greater confidence!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Hebrews 10:35 – So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

It is a great encouragement to look back and remember how we endured severe trials in the past. These were the paths that we walked and faced tests, temptations, opposition, failures, losses and adversities of various kinds. During those tough moments in life, the Lord gave us courage and strength. These tough experiences were used by the Lord to build us up and to help us to grow in faith and trust in Him. There were times when we had no idea how we would have endured a sleepless night or faced a daytime of battles. But the Lord saw us through it all. He gave us courage to face our situations. He delivered us through miracles. He made us face situations for which we thought we had no strength. When there was no peace in our situations, He gave us His peace which passed all understanding. When we had shortages, He gave us the faith to trust Him to keep going with the confidence that the next meal would come from Him. When we were down and out, His angels came to pick us up and give us hope in our hearts and light in our eyes. The way thus far with full eventualities was also filled with adventures of faith. It was all possible because the Lord gave us His courage which we cannot throw away when the going gets tougher. The Lord who was with us so far and will be with us till the end. This confidence in the Lord increases our faith and trust to keep going to accomplish greater things for Him. Such faith is rewarded by Him as He keeps giving us more confidence to face the tougher days ahead. So there is no need for us to quit or go back or even take a detour. Our Lord is with us continually as the way gets rougher and the walk more cumbersome. He holds our hands, prepares our paths, gives us light to focus on the cross in front of us.

Dear reader, is your walk becoming tougher and rougher as days go by? Is your pathway pausing greater challenges as you walk the miles with the Lord? Do you often wonder how you would move forward in the midst of the present oppositions, battles and threats from your situations? Remember how He led you so far? It was because the Lord was with you and how He held your hands that you have arrived so far on your walk. The same Lord with greater grace is with you to take you forward. So you don’t need to know how the next moment in your life will treat you. At the right time, right measure of grace will be poured into your heart. Either the ravens will come or you will have a homemade meal in a poor widow’s home. Either the angel will come with bread and water or you will run all the way to mount Horeb. The same Lord who made it possible for you to be lifted up from the pit will open the doors of your dungeon to pick you up to go to the palace for the next phase of your ministry. When you come out of the lions’ dens, greater revelations of the glory of your Lord are waiting for you. Patmos is not the end of your pathway, but only the beginning for you to see all the way to eternity. The mob might attack you and connive to finish you off, but your Lord has greater ministries waiting for you in unusual places like broken ships, tribal islands, kings’ palaces and even in dark dungeons. The Lord who was with you at the Philippian jail will be with you in the tougher dungeon in Rome. As you keep walking with the Lord, your greater reward for little or weak faith is the greater strength He gives you to face tougher situations in your life. So dear reader, keep walking forward, meditating on the grace that you received in the past and focusing on the greater rewards of strength, courage, confidence and trust that are awaiting you in your future pathways.

Proverbs 3:26 – For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

Thought for Today

When the going gets tough, the Lord makes us stronger to face our situations and to come out victorious.


Monday, February 13, 2012

MEANS FOR LIFE AND GODLINESS!!

Means for life and godliness!

Verse for Today: Monday, February 13, 2012

1 Peter 1:3 – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

It is important that God’s children know who they really are. We are the children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are called by Him to share in His glory and all His goodness. He has bestowed upon us His divine power to live here on earth for His glory and to enjoy all His goodness which will cause us to glorify Him through everything we do. Not only that, He has given us everything we need to start living eternal life here and now and to show forth godliness in our lives. He has given us His Spirit and His Word to empower us unto godliness. He has given us His glory to shine in the midst of a dark and perverse generation. His goodness has worked in us to produce the right spiritual emotions, thoughts, desires, likes, dislikes, preferences, priorities and choices so that it can all aid in our lives here on earth as His witnesses. He has thus given us all that we need to live here for Him and not for us. We are not our own, but are purchased by Him and so we are the Lord’s personal property. So our time, treasures, skills, knowledge, education, wisdom, experience and aptitudes become the Lord’s. While He helps us to develop these personal traits, His lordship demands that we submit it all back at His feet on a continuous basis. Our focus is the Lord Jesus and so all that we are becomes His to use as it pleases Him. We are not to hold on to us any thing that is His, but to submit it at His feet. If we take away His personal property for ourselves, we are robbers. We have to live for Him by using all that He gives us including sources of minimum income to meet our needs so that all that we are and have can be fully possessed and utilized by Him. Such a surrendered person lives by faith to please Him while meeting all the needs through the resources which He supplies on a daily basis. We are challenged by Him daily to take Him at His Word and believe that He will meet all our needs on a daily basis for us to live for His glory showing forth godliness in our behavior, attitudes and actions.

Dear friend, have you discovered that your Lord has given you everything you need for life and godliness? He expects you to live a life of total dependence on Him rather than on any of your own competencies. His priority for you is godliness in your life. As you surrender yourself to make godliness a reality in your life, He fills you with His goodness. It was the goodness of his father that led the prodigal son to confess his false sense of self-sufficiency, repent of his selfishness and self-reliance and turn back to go home to enjoy the goodness of his father. It was the goodness of his Lord that made Abraham to get back to Canaan from Egypt and Jacob to get back from Paddan-aram. But people like Lot, Gehazi, Achan and Demas left the goodness of the Lord behind and went after possessions, positions, power, prestige, popularity, prominence and praise to find that they lost all that they had and didn’t get to enjoy all that they sought after. We are instructed by our Lord Jesus to seek after His kingdom and His righteousness and do not be anxious about what we would eat, drink and wear. He has given us all that we need to survive here on earth so that we can live to magnify Jesus in our lives. But we should appropriate it all as and when a need is met, but our goal ought to be to get filled with the glory of our Lord. He is asking us today to develop a greater craving and deeper thirst for Him and His mission on this earth and enjoy our partnership with Him to be filled with His glory each moment in our lives.

1 Timothy 6:6 – But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

Thought for Today

When the transliteration of godliness into our lives is our business for the Lord, meeting our mundane needs becomes the Lord’s business for us.

CONTACT US: todayintheword@gmail.com

Sunday, February 12, 2012

COMPASSION TO THE OBEDIENT!!

Compassion to the obedient!

Verse for Today: Sunday, February 12, 2012

Psalms 103:13 – Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

Compassion is a virtue that is extended to those who are helpless and are willing to admit it. It is administered by those who have a soft corner for those who deserve mercy. There are those who have compassion to others, but parents know best what it means to be compassionate towards their children. When the children are hungry, sick, lonely and frustrated, the compassionate father takes time to feed them, give them company and encourage them and sooth their bodies. When children cry, fathers go to them, hold them in their hands and wipe their tears. Understanding a compassionate father is a good way to understand the Heavenly Father who is compassionate to all His children all through the generations. He knows each child with their strengths and weaknesses and understands their emotional and physical needs. He knows the reasons why they suffer or feel frustrated. Our Lord also looks into our hearts to see if we have any fear and respect for Him. His obedient children receive favors from the Lord. He pours love and mercy into each of them in the measure in which they need His favor. He fills their lives with good things. He takes them to His green pastures and cool waters to feed and quench their thirst. When they are tired of the heat of the wilderness journey, He takes them to His shadow to enjoy His coolness. He comforts them when they endure emotional or physical pain. He helps them to walk in His ways and teaches them great and valuable lessons in life. He holds them in His hands and cuddles them as little children are cuddled by their fathers. Every need of every child is met by the Lord who has immense resources to meet all their varied needs. But this relationship is not one-sided. The Lord seeks after His children who respond to His love and compassion.

Dear reader, have you experienced and enjoyed the intimate relationship your Lord has with you? How well do you relate to Him? Do you speak to Him regularly and listen to Him? Do you spend time with Him in His presence and meditate on His Word? Abraham had a special time each day to spend with the Lord. Jacob met with Him and kept renewing his intimacy with Him. David knew Him intimately and enjoyed His compassion and love which made him write innumerable songs about His compassion. Moses enjoyed His favor and was instrumental in channeling His blessings and favors to the children of Israel. Through the centuries, His prophets stood in His presence to listen to His messages to His people and so they were used as heralds of God. He met His servants them their low and high ebbs of life. When they passed through fire, flood and wilderness and faced attacks from their enemies, He stood with them and delivered them. He touched their lives and held their hands during their sojourn. When no one showed any compassion to them, in their moments of frustration their Lord opened the streams of compassion, mercy and love to them and soothed their hearts. But we must understand that even though the Lord’s favors are available to all His children in the general sense, His special favors are available to those who fear and obey Him and walk according to His commandments. His compassion never stops, but in order to appropriate it, we must keep our fellowship with Him in an unbroken manner. Today the Lord reaches out to His obedient and faithful servants and meets their needs on the basis of His compassion to them. He expects us to receive His favors as we continue to serve Him faithfully.

Psalms 128:1 – Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.

Thought for Today

God’s compassion is available to all, but it is appropriated only by those who fear Him and walk in His ways.


Saturday, February 11, 2012

HEALING THE FOOLISH WOUNDS!!

Healing the foolish wounds!

Verse for Today: Saturday, February 11, 2012

Psalms 38:5 – My wounds grow foul and fester because of my folly.

King David did some foolish things in his life which were foolish in the eyes of both God and man. God’s Word has recorded many of these thoughtless acts of David for us to learn from. He has now come to confess his overwhelming foolishness to the Lord. David was impulsive and at times exhibited haste and impatience. He was thoughtless in jumping into wrong conclusions and acted out of sheer human reasoning rather than spiritual convictions. But David had the blessed experience of reacting to his follies with confession and repentance. David realized the depth of his folly and lamented about it. When his heart was broken over it, he spoke to the Lord about it and asked for mends. David had the grace to confess his foolish acts as he knew how it had broken God’s heart and grieved His Spirit. When he confessed, the Lord was gracious to forgive him. David’s life is a great challenge for us today when we recount the very many foolish things we would have committed. Many of our choices in life would have come out of impulse and impatience. Sometimes we do not consult our Lord and wait for Him to let His mind known to us. All the ways that we choose need not be those that are chosen for us by the Lord. We are bound to make wrong decisions in life which have serious consequences. But it is comforting to know that our Lord forgives us of our follies and makes mends for us. He helps us to learn lessons from our past follies. When our foolish acts come out as open and infected wounds with foul smell, still our Lord will not leave us unattended. When we confess it to Him, He comes to dress our wounds and pour in oil and wine to sooth and heal us. He will not remember the follies and sins that we confess to Him. He will forgive all our past mistakes and help us to start all over again. He will not peel our wounds off to bleed us and bear us open before others.

Dear friend, have you ever been convicted of your foolishness in life? Even the most intelligent and experienced person commits foolish acts which open up wounds because of the consequences of such impulsive acts. But when a child of God repents of such hasty and impulsive acts and confesses it to the Lord, He will not come to rebuke and scold us, but to forgive and comfort us. He will make mends for our foolish decisions and acts and help us by dressing our wounds and apply the Balm of Gilead to heal us. Perhaps we will have to bear the consequences of many of our past foolish acts, but our Lord will help us to bear it all with grace and start all over again. David had to pay heavily for some of his foolish acts, but the Lord brought him through it all and continued to use him for His glory. Abraham made some impulsive decisions in life for which he had to pay heavy price, but the Lord accepted his repentance and continued to bless him. Jacob had made foolish decisions in life, but God humbled him at Peniel and kept him going until God’s plans for him were accomplished. Out of compassion to us, our Lord comes to rescue us from the horrible consequences of our past foolishness when we confess it to Him. He understands our foolishness and sympathizes with us. If we are sincere in our confessions to Him, He will give us strength to keep going forward, and will not keeping on accusing and rebuking us. Our Lord has compassion on us and He will hold our hands and help us not to fall into foolish and impulsive acts. But we will have to live with greater dependence on the Lord in making decisions and taking steps of faith forward. We must commit ourselves more intimately to the Lord to help us avoid impulsive and hasty decisions and take each step in our lives with care and prayer.

Psalms 69:5 – O God, it is You who knows my folly; and my wrongs are not hidden from You.

Thought for Today

If we confess our foolishness and haste to the Lord, He will forgive our past, help us to mend our ways and choose our future steps carefully.




Friday, February 10, 2012

CEASELESS FOUNTAIN OF COMPASSION!!

Ceaseless Fountain of Compassion!

Verse for Today: Friday, February 10, 2012

Psalms 40:11 – You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and truth will continually preserve me.

We move forward in life because of the confidence we have in the Lord about His immeasurable compassion and love to His children. He deals in us not on the basis of our merit, qualification and eligibility to receive His lovingkindness. He is truthful in His character of being kind and compassionate to His children. If He takes into account our faults, failures and faithlessness, it would be difficult for us to receive any thing from the Lord. If He looks at our behavior, attitude, inclinations and coldness of hearts towards Him, it would be difficult to expect anything from Him. But our Lord doesn’t deal with us on the basis of our iniquities, but according to His nature of being benevolent and merciful. We do not find such compassion from people around us. People are often fault finders and they judge us according to their perceptions and prejudices. And they often willfully discount facts and truth. They point fingers at us but forget their own faults. But even as we have faults in us, our Lord shows compassion to us and comes to us with full understanding of our emotions and weaknesses. He sympathizes with our infirmities and weaknesses. He forgives our confessed sins and gives us more and more opportunities to straighten out our lives with His help. We find Him unilaterally going to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Jonah and Peter to help them clean up the mess they have created in their lives. In all of this, the Lord dealt with them with compassion and mercy. He forgave their shortcomings and gave them opportunities to start all over again on several occasions. Our God deals mercifully with all His children to help them handle their situations and circumstances. When they reap the results of their failures in life, He goes to show them kindness and teach them lessons so as to overcome such failures in the future. When we cry unto Him, He comes to wipe our tears and strengthen our hearts to face our situations courageously.

Dear friend, are you going through a time of distress because of your past failures in life? Your Lord can minimize the damage caused by your foolishness in life out of His compassion. He knows how weak you are and will come to strengthen you. When you are sad, He comes to cheer you up. When you lament over your past, He comes to wipe your past away and give you a new beginning. When you face loss and failures in your ministries and human endeavor, He comes to encourage you to keep going. When you do not see the way forward, He comes as light to your path and lamp to your feet to help you to keep going. When the going gets touch, He comes to take you on His shoulders. When you are unable to carry your burdens in life, He comes to carry you and your burdens. When no one sympathizes with you, He comes to show sympathy and love to you. As you go to His presence, He fills you with Himself and enriches your life with heavenly blessings. He speaks to you in soft and melodious voice to comfort your weary souls. Jacob was a miserable man when he lost all that was dearest to him. But the Lord was compassionate to him by sending chariots to revive his sagging spirit. Jesus reached out to the shut in disciples to revive their depressed souls. Yes, our Lord is compassionate and loving. He is also truthful as He cannot change His character of love, compassion and mercy. When no one shows up to give a drop of compassion to us in our most trying situations, our Lord will come to revive us and make us stand boldly in His presence. We can wait for Him to come at the right time. Our Good Samaritan will come with kindness, healing and sustenance out of His benevolence. He will not leave us alone nor forsake us because He is compassionate to us.

Lamentations 3:22 – Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.

Thought for Today

The ceaseless fountain of God’s compassion flows from His vast and immeasurable ocean of love to His children.


Thursday, February 9, 2012

QUEST FOR INCREASED FAITH!!

Quest for increased faith!

Verse for Today: Thursday, February 09, 2012

John 20:27 –
Then (Jesus) said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

When we develop doubt and confusion and find it difficult to believe, our Lord comes to us to fortify our weak faith. He takes time to make our faith clear to us rather than rebuking or scolding us for doubting. He sympathizes with our lack of faith and would deal in us to remove all our doubts and confusions from our heart because He loves and cares for us so much. While He has time for a crowd and goes to them to preach and teach them, He also has time for one individual who is weak in faith and willing to admit it to Him. When the faith of Thomas was weak, Jesus was there to strengthen him. He gave Thomas enough evidences to put all his trust in the resurrected Lord. Thomas pronounced in his weak faith that he would believe if he sees evidence and Jesus met his challenge with full evidence. When the evidence was placed before him, instead of checking it out, he became broken in his spirit and repented of his unbelief. The instance of restoration of Thomas’ faith tells us today about the marvelous ministry of restoration performed by Jesus in our daily lives. When we have weak faith, we have the freedom to go to the Lord expressing our exasperation and He will certainly come to us to repel all doubt and confusions in our faith. He speaks to us in special ways through His Word and reminds us of the promises He has given us. He fortifies our faith through the events of other children of God. He shows us through turn of events in our own lives that we can truly trust Him in our lives.

Dear reader, are you engulfed in doubts and confusions in your current situation? Your doubt and apprehensions are often because of the seeming silence of God in your situations. Sometimes your over-expectations and over-ambitions make you doubt God’s power. But the Lord understands your genuine doubts and confusions and would definitely deal with your weak faith if you truly desire to see His glory in your life situations. Sometimes the Lord speaks to us when we are all alone in a special way to dispel all our doubts. At other times He speaks to us through events of the past or the present which are strong reminders of God’s hand in your lives. If we have questions, He will answer us to make things clear. If we put our faith in Him to clear our doubts, He will diffuse our doubts and give us the strength to believe in His power to accomplish things for us in our lives which are according to His will. His servants like Abraham, Jacob, David, Nehemiah and Paul had times of hopelessness and doubt in their lives. But the Lord visited and revisited them on a number of occasions to strengthen their faith through reassurances. When they were tossed around with doubts and confusions, the Lord appeared to them with messages of encouragement. Today we can find strength in our moments of weak faith from His Word and in His presence. He has given us scores of promises and He keeps reminds us that He will not relent. There is not even an iota of space for doubt in our Lord whose track record of keeping His promises is full, complete, absolute and perfect and without exception. So today we can rely on Him to strengthen us in our moments of weak faith so that we too can worship the Lord, as did Thomas, for His greatness in revealing Himself to the weakest of His disciples. Thomas had a heart-cry for his desire to believe and the Lord met him at his lowest echelon of faith to meet his need to build up his faith. He will do the same for us today and build us up in our faith in Him which will cause us also to praise Him.

Luke 17:5 –
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Thought for Today

Our craving for increased faith will be fully satisfied by our Lord through the series of personal encounters He grants us.

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