VISION SOLUTION!!

Vision solution!

 

Verse for Today: Friday, May 25, 2012

Isaiah 6:1 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

It is natural that when we are in dire need, we look to powerful and influential sources for help and support. But soon we realize that these sources have evaporated and that we will be utterly disappointed if we look to them. But there is an unchanging source for us to seek help and strength from. That source and strength is our Lord who is in control of all our situations and affairs. He rules and overrules all our situations according to His will, pleasure and wisdom. If only we see Him in His glory and majesty we would forget about ourselves and our problems and get ourselves lost in His greatness. But we can see the invisible God only by the eyes of faith. He has opened our spiritual eyes to see Him and His glory. But to see Him, we have to be in His presence. If we look at the world’s sources, we will loose our vision of our Lord in His power and might. But if we depend on the Lord and put all our faith in Him, we will be able to see Him as a reality in our lives. When we see Him by faith, our perspective to life will change. Our dependence on Him will then become total and that will lead to greater commitment to Him. Then we will grow in our dependence on Him for all our needs. If we want to see His greatness, we must take our eyes off all other sources like government, rulers, employers, health, circle of friends, assets and the strength of the family. When we thus see Him, our hearts will be comforted and we will be encouraged to keep fixing our eyes on His glory.

Dear friend, are you going through seemingly hopeless circumstance? Are the sources you depended on to meet your needs disappear unexpectedly? Are you left in a lurch without any place to go to and any person to talk to? You are encouraged by the example of Prophet Isaiah to go to the presence of the Lord. If you open your eyes and meditate on His Word, you will be able to see the Lord of glory seated on the throne and controlling all your circumstances. He is ready and willing to fill you with His glory which will transform your perspectives in your current and futuristic concerns. He is the answer to all your concerns. Your Lord has the power and strength to handle your situation and make mends wherever necessary. When you see Him in His glory, you will be able to find answers to your situations. He will give you answers to your questions and concerns. When all others leave you, He will still be with you. When help from other sources cease, His fountain of blessings will still flow to you. He has been the answer to the needs of His people when they were in tight corners of life. He was the only hope for Joseph in the pit and in the dungeon. He was the only source of help and support for Daniel in the lion’s den. He was the only one to feed the masses in the desert. He was the answer to thirst for the people of Israel in the desert. He made the impossible turned into possibility for Abraham and Sarah in the form of a child. He turned the plight of Joseph around so that an innocent prisoner could one day become the Prime Minister of Egypt. When Isaiah saw His glory, it changed His perspectives and ministry. If we take time to see this Lord in His glory, it will transform our concerns into praise for all that He is doing for us. When all other helpers vanish, He will still be seated on the throne and ruling and overruling our situations for His glory.

Revelation 1:17 – When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.

Thought for Today

The vision of the Lord in His majesty fills our hearts with answers to all our concerns and burdens.

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HE WILL SURELY COME!!

He will surely come!

 

Verse for Today: Thursday, May 24, 2012

Matthew 14:25 – During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

When the wind and the waves of life beat against us, we tend to be afraid and loose confidence. Our hearts get discouraged with hopelessness because we do not see any way out of our predicament. We tend to wonder why there is such a wind even when we belong to Jesus. We realize that the wind blows at a thoroughly unexpected time. It is more fearsome when it is dark and when we are still a distance from the shore. Our experience and expertise on the lake seem not to work in the dark nights of life. There seem to be no one to help or rescue us. Our cries seem to echo back to us. But we need to realize that our Lord knows where we are and what kind of difficulties we are faced with. When we are absolutely helpless and admit it without any hesitation, our Lord comes to help us. The fourth watch of the night is pretty late for any help to come from any where. But that is not too late for the Lord. The wind or the waves do not hinder Him because they all submit to His authority. He can walk on it just as He walks on the land. He comes to us when we least expect Him to come. When all hope is gone, He comes with hope. Perhaps we may not recognize Him at that late hour of the night. Perhaps we think that He doesn’t know our situation. But He knows it all and will come to help us out of our most hopeless situation. We probably think that it is too late for any help to come to us, but no hour is too late for Him to come to our rescue. He comes to command us to take courage. He comes with several miracles to make believers out of us. Our Lord is pleased to come to us when we need Him most. He will come to rescue and deliver us from our impossible situations.

Dear reader, are you in a seemingly hopeless situation in life? Are you being engulfed by mighty winds and waves in the darkest moments of your life? Surely, if you look at the wind, you will be terrified. If you see the roaring waves, it would take away all your courage. The fear that grips you will make your throat dry and give you palpitation. But the Lord doesn’t want you to be afraid. Let the wind blow and the waves roar, but you are safe in the hands of Jesus. He is the Lord of the sea and waves. He is the God who created the wind. All of these natural forces are under His authority. When He commands, these natural elements will obey and give way. Our Lord will come at the most unexpected and unlikely time against all hope to meet our needs and help us with our faithlessness. He comes to handle our fears and anxieties. He crumbles our hopelessness and gives us hope for a brighter future. Our cumbersome situations are handled by our Lord in magnificent manner to reveal His glory. When we allow Jesus to climb into our boats and become our anchorman, the wind will give way to our boat with Jesus in it. Today let us make Him our Anchorman. No matter how well we know life, it can crumble with one wind or a wave. So we should not have any confidence whatsoever in our flesh to accomplish any thing in life. Our best skills are only big hollows if Jesus is not in it with us. Our boats are not powerful enough to withstand the pressures of the wind and the waves of circumstances. But if Jesus is our Anchorman, our boat can soar through any wind or wave. Let us today travel with Jesus and be confident in His power to keep us safe and take us forward no matter what the opposition and hindrance might be.

Matthew 14:27 – But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid”.

Thought for Today

When all hope seems to be gone, there is still hope in the power of Jesus to deliver us and dispel all fears and anxiety.

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HINDRANCE AT THE OPEN DOOR!!

Hindrance at the open door!

 

Verse for Today: Wednesday, May 23, 2012

1 Corinthians 16:9 – For a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

God sends His children through His pathways with the expressed purpose of serving Him in some effective capacity. His ways are for us to tread for the extension of His kingdom. He expects us to be His servants on our sojourn. When we go through His pathways, He makes our journey effective by making us touch the lives of needy souls. When we meet people who need to know Jesus on our way, He wants us to introduce them to gospel. There are those who know the Lord Jesus and need to be built up. There are those who need someone to wipe their tears and encourage them in the rough patches of life. The pathway of service that the Lord opens for us is wide with full of opportunities and prospects. But we need to open our eyes to see these avenues through which we can serve God. But sure enough there will be adversaries on the way to distract us from serving God. They create obstructions for us to use the opportunities for service. They will try to make us too busy with life-linked affairs in our occupations, interests like sports, arts, technology or even in social affairs. The enemy will create situations of conflicts of various kinds to get our minds away from serving the Lord. The enemy will use people to contaminate our situations with trivial matters which will preoccupy our minds so that we would not able to concentrate with the work of the Lord. Sometimes the enemy will try hindering us through physical, mental and social persecutions of various kinds. But we are called upon to serve the Lord in spite of these adversities and opposition. We should be willing to suffer adversities on our way and overcome these oppositions with dependence on the Lord and go forward in serving Him.

Dear reader, are you able to see the opportunities the Lord has given you in serving Him? Do you see the wide door of services that are laid bare before your eyes? As you walk with the Lord, you are commissioned to get yourself involved in these ministries. As you get yourself involved in the service of the Lord, there will be opposition from the enemy of the Lord who is your enemy also. He will try to stall you from getting involved. He will see to it somehow that you are pulled back. But remember how you are called upon to suffer for the Lord as you serve Him. You will probably be persecuted, gossiped about, envied upon, misunderstood, misrepresented and unkindly criticized. There might be threat from your neighbors, friends, colleagues, bosses and even members of your family. The enemy will also try to clutter your situations by creating confusions of various kinds on your way. You might be dragged into silly controversies to shift your focus from the Lord and His ministries to trivial issues and concerns. So let us be careful to keep away from unnecessary issues and focus our attention on the Lord and His service for which we are called and commissioned. Let us spend all our energies to serving the interests of the Lord and steer away from distractions. Let us declare war on the obstructions the enemy creates on our way and thrust forward with the help of the Spirit of God in serving the Lord. Let us ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the opportunities that He spreads before us and thank Him for it.

1 Peter 5:8 – Be on sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Thought for Today

When we are in the centre of God’s purpose, the enemy of our souls will come to hinder us from going forward.

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LIVING SACRIFICE!!

Living sacrifice!

 

Verse for Today: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Acts 4:29 – Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your Word with great boldness.

God’s children face threats of various kinds as they live to witness to the saving grace of Jesus. Their Christ-likeness becomes a threat to the enemies of gospel. Their faith is a great challenge to the people of this world and to the world system. Their testimony is a forceful threat to the very existence of godlessness in this world. Even when God’s servants speak about peace with God, it is taken as threat to the ungodly life style of the world. So they come to attack God’s children in so many ways. There are physical as well as psychological attacks and threats. These threats are the clear evidence that our testimonies and ministries are hitting the right target. In order to silence us and to weaken our enthusiasm, the enemy uses his agents in the world to intimidate us. These threats are their ways to stop us from living as commanded by the Lord. They insist that we work or run our businesses on the Lord’s Day. They tell us that the expressions we use, like ‘crusade’, ‘spiritual warfare’, ‘victory’, ‘capturing of lives’, ‘holy war’,  ‘hell’ and ‘eternal judgment’, in our messages are threatening words. So they connive against our message and our lives. They ridicule us when we live by faith. They try to stop us from praying or preaching in the public. People of other religions can do whatever they want to propagate their faith, but when we utter the name of Jesus, the world gets agitated. They are interested in social reformation and not spiritual revolution. They hate radical Christianity. They find that the best way to stop Christianity from spreading is to threaten and intimidate us to stop living to preach the Word. They try to suppress us psychologically to stop our messages. But we can always go to Him with petitions and prayers to help us overcome these intimidations and to continue to shine for Jesus.

Dear reader, are you a living and public witness to the power of God in your life? Is your life your message about God to the community in which you live? Are you using the available opportunity to take a public stand for Jesus in your community? Are you sticking your neck for the truth that you believe with all your heart? Your Lord is with you to help you live boldly for Him. He knows all about the threats that loom large above your head. He is with you and has appointed a garrison of heavenly hosts around you to protect you and to support you in all possible ways as you stand as His witness. If your desire is to speak about your Lord, you have the privilege to ask the Lord to give you all support to do it. When your Lord is with you, there is no reason for you to be afraid of the enemy who opposes you anyway. The enemy will try to pull you back from active Christian witness through intimidations from your employer, boss, colleagues, business associates, relatives, social organizations and sometimes even through the laws of the land where you dwell. But we must realize that our allegiance is first and foremost to the Lord and to gospel. When we are filled with His Spirit, we will receive boldness to live to testify to the power of God in our lives. At the same time, our prayer life will demonstrate our total dependence on the Lord for the power to live as His witnesses. Let us pray more and desire deeper spiritual lives so that our lives will exemplify the Lord Jesus. Let us seek after the boldness of Christ to fill our hearts and lives to witness to others with courage and confidence and not be afraid of the intimidations of the world.

Acts 4:31 – After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Thought for Today

When our hearts and lives are filled with the character of Christ and the power of His Spirit, our lives will enjoy the boldness to testify to His grace.

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SHELTER AND SHADOW!!

Shelter and Shadow!!

 

Verse for Today: Monday, May 21, 2012

Psalms 91:10 – No harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

God’s promises are for His children who love Him and obey His laws. God fulfills His promises to us as a response to our attitude to His laws. In response to His promises, we give allegiance to His laws in our lives and follow His paths. If we make Him our dwelling place, we will enjoy the shadow of the Almighty and the shelter of the Most High. When we thus dwell with Him, He becomes our buffer against all evil that might come our way. Our dwelling with Him takes all the harm that come against us away and removes all the pressures of evil that are directed to us. When disaster comes out way, our Lord protects us with His person, power and presence. When plagues of various kinds approach us, our Lord will cover us with His glory so that we become invincible. When the people of Israel moved out of Egypt by faith, they dwelled in the Lord’s presence and so there was no weakness among them. But when they moved out of the dwelling place of the Lord and started grumbling, their faith diminished and so they encountered harms of various kinds and many disasters blew against them. So if we dwell with the Lord, He will keep all the impacts of the sinful and evil environment away from us and make us walk victoriously with Him. It is part of the sovereign will of our Lord that we are kept away from all harm and disaster. He is not willing for any of His children to encounter harm and disaster. But we invite these difficulties into our lives by moving away from the Lord and His presence. We digress from His presence when we try to walk by sight rather than by faith and go after the lukewarm water that the world offers us which is the sure way to attract harm and disaster on us. Today God challenges us to dwell continuously in His tent and under His shadow to enjoy the bliss that he wants to bestow upon us.

Dear reader, are you wallowing in the disasters that the world has dragged you in? When you are thus enduring difficulties, it is probably right to ask yourself as to whether it is because you have abandoned the shadow of the Almighty. You need to make sure that you do not dwell in the tents of this world with all the comforts it offers. Perhaps you feel that you are going through harm and disasters in spite of dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty. But you should not be tempted to confuse between the trials and tests that the Lord allows in your life with that of harm and disasters. The trials and tests that the Lord sends your way are neither to harm you nor to trouble you with disasters. But these trials which look like harm or disaster are only tough experiences to help you to learn to trust the Lord to see you through. Paul and Peter went through trials which looked like harm, but that was the process of purifying them for a closer walk with their Master. Joseph went through near-death experiences, abuse, misrepresentation of his deeds and misunderstandings. But these made him grow stronger in the Lord and groom him to become the Prime Minster of Egypt to be a part of God’s plan for opening the pathway for the Messiah to come to the world.  Job seemed to have gone through several disasters in life, but soon he learned that these were to purify him in his devotion to the Lord. Today our Lord invites us to dwell with Him, as He invited Andrew and John to dwell with Him. Their stay with Him for a night changed their lives and perspectives and anchored on ardent faith in Him. So when John was in Patmos as an exile, he did not take it as harm or disaster, but an opportunity to see newer visions about his glorious Lord and the magnificence of Heaven. Let us today dwell under the shadow of the Almighty and see our trials in a new dimension.

Psalms 91:1 – He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Thought for Today

Dwelling under the shadow of the Lord in His sweet, peaceful and loving presence makes us happy in spite of our earthly circumstances.

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JOY IN TRIBULATIONS!!

Joy in tribulations!

 

Verse for Today: Sunday, May 20, 2012

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

Persecution is a willful act which demonstrates hatred and resentment. There is physical as well as mental persecution. Physical persecution tests our physical endurance. It hurts our bodies and inflicts pain and weariness. It can take the form of denial of our right to food, water or a place to sleep and can go to the extent of bodily injury and mutilation. Mental persecution is inflicted on our emotions and affections. It isolates, rejects, resents, uses verbal abuses and dirty language, threats and intimidation. It comes with stark lies and distortions and makes us accountable for no offence of ours. Persecutors enjoy sadistic pleasure on their prey that is often weaker than them by physical might or power supported by law. When God’s children stand for righteousness, truth, honesty, morality and the rights of the depraved class in the society, we are persecuted as if we have committed some major legal offences. When our stand for God creates inconveniences for our detractors, they turn around and persecute us either physically or mentally and sometimes both. They cook up evidences against us to destroy our credibility and testimony. Their atrocities against us take away our peace and sleep. Their hatred and envy give us heaviness of heart. But the Lord Jesus Christ tells us today that we can cast all the pain from our persecution on Him and be joyful in Him. He suffered persecution for us, but endured it all without any grumbling. He set His heart on the joy that would come from the salvation of our soul and suffered it all with divine happiness. We are challenged today to set our hearts at rest in the Lord and be happy in spite of our painful circumstances.

Dear friend, are you being harassed and intimidated by others around you because of your stand for the Lord? Perhaps the persecution you are undergoing has become unbearable to you. It has probably become a greater challenge because you are suffering for the sake of truth and sincerity. It is felt more intensely because it comes from those who are close to us, like family, friends, kith and kin, colleagues and neighbors, and sometimes even from fellow believers. When Paul and Silas suffered persecution, they sang songs and celebrated their persecution as a privilege to suffer for the Lord. When Peter was persecuted and imprisoned, he slept peacefully and enjoyed a time of rest even in a prison cell. Joseph endured imprisonment without grumbling and waited patiently for the Lord to give him a release. David suffered persecution of various kinds and had to run for life. But even those moments of intense pressure, the Lord gave him songs in the night to sing along and filled him with the spirit of prayer. God’s servants like Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul and Stephen suffered persecution, but they never lost their composure in the Lord. They were all happy in the Lord in the midst of persecution and intimidations. They considered it a joy to suffer persecution for the Lord and for His cause. The same Lord is with us today as we stand for Him and serve Him. His Spirit is the Spirit of joy and peace and not of confusion and distress. When we seek after the power of the Spirit of God through true brokenness, the Lord will fill us with His Spirit who will endue us with the blessed experience of being joyful in spite of persecution. We will then be able to live as blessed people exhibiting the qualities of true joy and happiness in spite of circumstances and situations.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 – We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Thought for Today

True disciples enjoy true blessedness when they go through persecution.

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SAFE IN HIS ARMS!!

Safe in His arms!

Verse for Today: Saturday, May 19, 2012

Psalms 37:24 – Though the godly stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord upholds them with His hand.

God’s children are often battered by the enemy through our circumstances to make us stumble and fall. Sometimes we tend to stumble because we walk faster than we are enabled by the Lord. If we are not sober and alert, our feet tend to stumble and shake. The enemy of our souls tries to push us forward by creating over-enthusiasm or pull us back with cold-heartedness. Sometimes the enemy manipulates our hearts and minds to become fearful about our circumstances. But we must know that if we do not put our feet in the footprints of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are bound to stumble. The enemy creates enough and more deterrents and distractions on our way and on the wayside to take our focus away from the true pathways the Lord has created for us. The enemy’s ways and means are so subtle as to falter even the strongest believer at times and so we need to wear the whole armor of God as we walk along. We must always look at Jesus and walk so that we will not stumble. As we walk along, we have the promise from our Lord that because He holds our hands, we will not fall. It is a great reassurance for us to keep going by looking at the author and finisher of our faith. Our firmer grip on the Lord and His Word will help us to avoid stumbling. When we hand over the controls of our lives to the Lord and His Spirit, we will not stumble. When we lean on to the Lord all the time, we will not falter. This was how Joseph, Daniel and Paul kept going till the end of their lives without stumbling. But we must be alert about the wiles of the enemy to catch us unaware and make us stumble. We must continue to walk with absolute dependence on the Lord Jesus and His power.

Dear friend, are you aware of the fact that you are susceptible to stumbling? But this awareness ought to make you hold more firmly on the Lord and allow His firm grip on you. Your Lord will not force His control on you. He binds you to Himself with His love. But when your love to Him diminishes, you tend to stumble form His grace. He watches over you with compassion, but when you take His compassion for granted and allow your mind to digress, you tend to falter. He holds you to Himself through His Spirit and Word, but when you do not fill yourself with His Word and get yourself filled with His Spirit, you tend to falter and stumble. He walks with you all the time, but if you abandon His pathway and walk according to the lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and the pride of life which you find in the vanity fair of this world, you will stumble. Walking with Jesus is never a one-sided exercise. If you are willing to walk with Him and are committed to His pathway, you will be able to enjoy your sojourn. But in spite of keen commitment to Jesus, if you falter and stumble due to trials, the Lord who knows the genuineness of your heart will honor your shaken faith and will hold you close to Him. He is always willing to hold us, but we have to be willing to take the responsibility to walk with Him. The sovereign Lord is willing to hold us as long as we are responsible to Him and walk close to Him. Our walk with the Lord is a mutual relationship and so let us renew our commitment to Him in all that we do to enjoy His presence, fellowship and protection. Today He wants to extend His hands for us to hold as He holds us with His hands. Let us hold on to Him and enjoy His protection and walk courageously lest we stumble and falter. He is faithful to hold us in His hands and take us forward.

Psalms 145:14 – The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

 Thought for Today

The love of God that binds us to His heart is much stronger than any effort of the enemy to make us stumble and fall.

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