HELP AND SHIELD!!

Help and Shield!

Verse for Today: Sunday, June 10, 2012

Psalms 33:20 - Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

It is comforting to know that the child of God is hidden behind the Lord who is his shield and help when all help fail. When we are confronted by difficult circumstances and fierce attacks by the enemy of our souls, we have hope in the Lord. When we face fierce attacks from all corners, we are reminded by the Lord that all our strengths and abilities have very little significance because our enemy is powerful. His tactics are subtle and crafty. He fights us largely from the emotional and spiritual realms of life. He uses our circumstances and situations through manipulations. Our only strength is in the Lord when all our hopes fade. He is out there when all others leave us. He reassures us that we will come out victorious by simply trusting in Him. David waited for the Lord with great expectations and hope. He put all his hope in the Lord and waited for Him to act at His time and in His unique ways. David had the faith to believe in the Lord that surely He will help and cover him with the Heavenly shield. These words of the Psalmist are the heart-cry of every child of God because we are all living in enemy territory. We know that we cannot fight on our own and win this war against the powerful forces of Satan, world and our own flesh. As we wait for the Lord’s release and deliverance to come, He gives us the strength and patience. While we wait, the Lord covers us with His shield so that we would not be afraid and that we would be secure under His wings.

Dear friend, be comforted today that your Lord knows the attacks you are facing today from the enemy of your soul. He knows the intensity of the battle for your mind. The enemy is only interested in shattering your faith and trust in the Lord. He wants to waken you so that you would be tempted to use fleshly weapons to fight. Perhaps you might be intimidated with depressive thought about the end result of these battles. But there is no need to be discouraged and retreat from the battle field. The Lord is your commander-in-chief and He will rescue you from the mouth of the lions and the other wild animals that are around you to try to weaken your confidence in the Lord. Rest assured that the Lord is on your side and He will protect you from the snares of the tongue and the fiery darts of gossip and slander against you. Perhaps you feel all alone in this fierce battle, but your Lord is with you and He is in it with you all the way. You are not alone even for a moment. The enemy might be using subtle weapons of the flesh against you because he has no principles or moral character. Perhaps the enemy is using people who are dear to your heart. The greatest weapon the enemy used against David was Saul, his own father-in-law. The strongest armor against Moses was his own brother and sister. The powerful ammunition against Paul was the brethren around him who received immense spiritual benefits from his ministry. The greatest attack against the Lord Jesus came from Judas who was a pseudo disciple and the crowd which received spiritual and physical blessings from Him. So dear friend, don't be discouraged when the enemy is using unexpected corners to fight against you. The Lord will come to your rescue at the right time. He will be your shield and so none of the armor of the enemy will be effective against you. You will win the battle, because the Lord fights for you, as the battle belongs to the Lord.

Psalms 33:18 - Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness.

Thought for Today

All who wait for the Lord in times of fierce spiritual battle will find the right cover behind His shield for total protection.

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UPHOLDING JUSTICE!!

Upholding Justice! 

Verse for Today: Saturday, June 09, 2012

Lamentations 3:59 – You have seen, O Lord, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!

We serve a Lord who sees everything. He knows all that we go through and endure. He knows why we go through the consequences of the wrong that others do to us. He doesn’t close His eyes to the injustice that is done to His children. It is most comforting to realize that when no one else in this world sees our cause, it is not hidden from our Lord. But instead of always preventing these wrongs from affecting us, our Lord transforms these wrongs as tests and trials of our faith. He definitely upholds our cause because He is the God of righteousness. He will not suffer injustice against His children. But even when we are faced with injustice, He will use it for our good. He helps us to strengthen our faith to face these trials and come out stronger in our trust in Him. It is a fact that if we don’t pass through such trials, we would not know the grace with which our Lord would deliver us from it all. Thus our trials help us to catch the glorious deliverance of our Lord with our eyes of faith. These trials make us humble before Him. During these trials, He wants us to realize that we do not have any other source of strength and support. Joseph experienced the power of His deliverance when he was in the hopeless pit with no one else to rescue him. But after this experience, Joseph could taste the grace and mercy of the Lord in picking him up from the horrible pit and terrible hopelessness and take him on his way to be elevated. He also tasted the compassion and grace of our Lord who rescued him from the dungeon through marvelous turn of events when those whom he served forgot him. Our God doesn’t forget our plights which are His training schools for us to experience the compassion of His mighty hands. So when we pray and ask Him to uphold our cause, it is an affirmation of His plan for us because our Lord cannot but uphold the cause of His children.

Dear friend, are you going through the consequences of the wrongs others have committed against you? Perhaps even those who love you might be taking a neutral stand in the midst of your sufferings. You might be thirsting for a kind word from someone which often eludes you at the heights of your emotional distress. But even in such situations, your Lord understands you and He knows the intensity of your pain and misery. He feels the heat of your situation. There is no temptation that you go through that He cannot understand. In fact He alone knows how these pains cause more damage to the physical and emotional areas of your life. But in all such situations, He will not let you go alone. He is with you and He strengthens you with His presence. He comforts you with His words of compassion. He holds you like a baby is cuddled by its mother. He wipes your tears, listens to all your lamentations and touches you with His nail-pierced hands. Isn’t it amazing to know that the palms which hold the whole universe touch you with His divine love and compassion! He upholds us and our cause and avenges at the right time. But the unfavourable situations in your life may not change until the Lord accomplishes the spiritual purposes for which He allows it. When the process is completed and the purpose is accomplished, the hands of the creator Lord will turn off the furnace and deliver you. Let us today praise God for all the trials that He takes us through to strengthen us in our walk of faith. Let us examine ourselves to see if we are growing in our faith through these injustices and to hold on to the Lord. Let us ask that we may be filled with His peace and patience in times of injustice.  

Psalms 91:14 – “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name”.  

Thought for Today

The Lord is our hiding place when the enemy of our souls builds snares for us and denies justice.

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FILLED LIVES AND HEARTS!!

Filled lives and hearts!

Verse for Today: Friday, June 08, 2012

Psalms 145:15 – The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time.

In times of dire need, we need a place and a person to look up to. All creatures look for help when they are in need. Children look to their parents for help. Servants look to their masters for help. But all help comes from the Father in Heaven who supplies all needs through the provisions He has made in this world. As He is the Father of all creation, they have every right and freedom to look to Him to meet their needs. But for God’s children who acknowledge Him as their Father through Jesus Christ, they look unto Him in a special way. He is their Father by creation and by salvation. They have trusted Him for all aspects of their lives. He knows all their physical, emotional and spiritual needs and has enough provisions to meet all their needs at the proper time. They move forward in life by trusting in His resources and His enabling to appropriate all that He has set apart for them on a daily basis. They look unto Him with the eyes of faith, fully trusting Him to meet all their needs. He gives them guidance, directions, instructions, ideas, thoughts and aspirations which take them forward. When they are in need, they exercise their faith in the Father to provide for them at the right and proper time. Their Father is compassionate, loving and patient with them. He forgives their faithlessness and teaches them to walk by faith.  He gives them desires and provides them with the means to satisfy these desires. He has given them eyes of faith which sees far beyond what the physical eyes can see. They see the unfathomable depth of the reservoirs of blessings their Father has reserved for them. With such a benevolent Father, there is no disappointment or shadow of doubt. His capacity to give is enormous and unparalleled. His willingness to give is far beyond all expectations. Today He wants us to look unto Him for all our needs.

Dear friend, are you a needy person today? Perhaps your needs spread around the physical, intellectual, emotional and social realms and reaches up to the spiritual spectrum of life. It is so difficult for man to sit down and make a realistic estimate of all his needs. But we have a Heavenly Father who knows it all in its depth, width and breadth. He gives to meet all our needs in the right quantity and quality. He is prompt and will not fall short of our needs and expectations. In fact, He has asked us to expect great things form Him. If we are serious about what we want from Him for His glory through our lives, we are bound to ask and He is willing to give us. He gives us physical food and water to nourish our bodies. He is also willing to give us spiritual food and water for the growth and development of our inner person. For us to desire and receive what He gives us, we must have the right appetite and thirst. Our appetite depends on our relationship with the Father and the desire we have for His Word. When our relationship with the Father is on the basis of our broken and contrite hearts, we would have the desire for His Word to nourish and fill us. He also gives us His love which satisfies our emotions as well as our spirits. Let us today look unto the Father with a longing to be closer to Him and to be filled with Him and His Word. The deeper our desire, the greater will be our earnestness to ask the Father to give us His best. He will answer such prayers of His children and will fill us with His best to help us grow in spiritual stature. Let us today desire the Lord and His best to fill our lives, hearts and aspirations.

Psalms 20:4 – May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed!    

Thought for Today

Blessed are those who look unto the Lord, for they shall be filled with His glory in their lives.

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ADVENTUROUS FAITH!!

Adventurous faith!

Verse for Today: Thursday, June 07, 2012

Matthew 14:29 – “Come,” (Jesus) said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus.

Life is a series of adventures which man attempts with the help of his worldly wisdom and instinct. But the greatest adventure is faith which eludes a Christ-less world. There are things that the world shudders, but are made possible by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith attempts the impossible when God helps us. By faith, God’s children attempt great things that are unthinkable to the world. God challenges us to take Him at His Word. We are invited to walk by faith on flimsy situations like water by faith. The people of this world know only about physical walk and they think that they are walking in their own ability. Little do they realize that their ability for physical walk is a gift by God! Just as our physical walk is by the enabling given to us as a gift by God, our spiritual walk is also a gift through God’s enabling. When we put our faith in Him, He enables us to walk by faith. It is a walk to Him and then with Him on His pathways and in His footprints. It is a walk with full dependence on Him. It is a walk beyond our human capacity. It is walking through the unknown and yet unfamiliar terrain. Faith takes steps forward without knowing where to put it, what kind of surface it is and without regard to consequences which are looked after by our Lord Jesus. His invisible hands hold us as we take our steps of faith. It doesn’t matter whether the surface is sand, clay, water or even fire. Our Lord leads us just as He led Peter to walk on the water to reach out to Him. He gives us the boldness to walk by faith. He expects us to look unto Him alone as we walk by faith. He makes us put our faith in Him rather than in our skills or past experience. Today He asks us to walk towards Him and with Him as He guarantees to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory.

Dear reader, are you bewildered about the terrain on which you are challenged to walk today? Is your surface volatile, slippery or rough? But that doesn’t matter because you are encouraged to walk by faith alone. No matter how difficult the terrain you are called upon to walk, you are also given the enabling by the Lord who has called you to walk. Perhaps the surface for you to walk today is full of thorns, sharp stones, steep hills with rolling gravel, marshy ground which slows you down or water and waves. But these need not deter you in your walk because the Lord will look after the process and consequence of your walk. He will keep you from stumbling if you focus on Him. Perhaps fear will knock at your heart to make you bewildered about the consequences of the next step you need to take. If so, rebuke it by faith and walk forward with the courage and strength your Lord gives you. It should be possible for you to challenge any of your circumstances, as did Peter, to walk forward. Just leave the consequences of your adventure in faith to the Lord because you are to walk in His name and for His glory. Your bold steps forward are the confirmation of your faith in the Lord who has promised to take you along to the destination He has designed. No matter what hindrances surface on your pathways, you can overcome it by faith because the Lord Jesus has invited and challenged you to walk towards Him. There is no doubt that if you look up to Him and walk, you will make it to your glorious destination on time with great spiritual vigor and vitality. But if you doubt, your faith will be shaken and you might begin to sink. So let us look at Jesus alone and walk by faith without regard to the circumstances and situations because Jesus is above all our circumstances.

Psalms 37:5 – Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.

Thought for Today

Faith in God breaks open all hindrances to make us walk to our glorious destination a step at a time.

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WATCHING AND WARNING!!

Watching and warning!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Psalms 121:7 – The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life.

Life is full of experiences which pose both constructive and destructive episodes.  Many of these experiences are the result of the interplay of human weaknesses and failures on the one side and the sinfulness of man on the other. We live in an environment of iniquity which is reflected in all aspects of human life. But the child of God is a special target for the agents of iniquity who try to put us into difficulties and harm us in every walk of life. Our environment is manipulated to create fear in us and to thwart our confidence in the Lord. We are engaged in a war against the forces of iniquity and evil. The enemy of our souls targets us with ways to destroy us emotionally, socially and physically and to weaken our faith and trust in the Lord. Knowing this well, our Lord prepares cover for us under His shadow and wings. He is the keeper of our bodies, minds and spirits safe from all harm. He knows the harms which the enemy of our souls tries to send our way and He protects us by covering us with His glory. He has also appointed His holy angels to guard us all around. He watches over us and warns us through His Spirit about impending danger so that we can keep away from it with His help. It is the will of God that we keep away from all harm and so He prepares all resources required to help us be warned and to take appropriate action. When the Lord watches over us, we also have a responsibility to watch over ourselves. When we are faced with harmful and destructive events in life, we need to use the whole armor of God to fight against it. Our armor includes faith and the Word which will help us if we stand strong on the shoes of gospel and the helmet of our salvation. As the Lord guards us, we are to become fit instruments in His hands to fight the enemy of our souls. The secret of our victory in dangerous situations is the partnership we have with the Lord to stand together.

Dear reader, are you aware of the precarious situation you are in because the enemy of you soul tries to put you into spiritual jeopardy? The physical difficulties you are put into are to weaken your faith and trust in the Lord. Do you realize that the enemy usually works first through your physical and emotional realms of life to reach your spiritual life to weaken you? But there is a way out of the treachery of the enemy which is to put all your trust in the Lord. The purpose of the enemy is to ultimately thwart the plan and purpose God has for your life and he knows well that the way to weaken you is to weaken your faith and trust. He knows also that the best way to cast doubt and confusion in your heart and ultimately weaken your faith is to touch your body and emotions. But our Lord is out there for us and His eyes are on us lest we become weaker in our faith. He strengthened Peter lest he might become weaker. The Lord went after Peter at a time when his faith was deplorably weak. He was with Joseph in the pit and the dungeon where he was locked up by the enemy from becoming what God wanted him to be. The Lord strengthened his faith and helped him to keep renewing his faith. Our Lord was with Paul and kept him from all evil until he was able to run the race and finish the course for which he was called. The Lord kept Daniel from all harm until his prophetic ministry was completed. He kept the heart and mind of John even in a lonely island to continue with his ministry. He never sleeps nor slumbers and keeps watches over His beloved children lest they be defeated. He also equips them to be diligent and watchful lest they fall. Today His promises give us added confidence and courage to face difficult life experiences and to come out victorious.  

Psalms 121:3 – He will not let your foot slip – He who watches over you will not slumber.

Thought for Today

The Lord keeps us under His shadow and wings and watches over us while He also warns us to be watchful lest we fall.

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DWELL, SING AND SHOUT!!

Dwell, Sing and Shout! 

Verse for Today: Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Psalms 118:15 – Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous; “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

A tent is the most unlikely place to resound shouts of joy and victory. It is a temporary abode and its dwellers keep moving. They face uncertainty. They experience the blowing of heat, wind, rain or snow against them.  Despite all this, the child of God lives with contentment in a tent. He is always willing to relocate and move on. His tent is the place of singing and making melody because his Lord keeps him fearless inside and helps him march forward. He attributes his victories to the great and awesome work of the Lord for him. He is not embarrassed to shout joyfully in front of others because he has always something to celebrate and declare. His abode in the tent reminds him that the only permanency he has is in the Lord who is his never-changing Lord. He looks to the Lord each day for victory over his enemies and the wild animals that come to attack him. He knows that with the Lord in his tent, he can enjoy safety, security and fearlessness in spite of his dangerous environment. He enjoys sustainability by the mighty hands of his Lord. He knows that his Lord fights all his battles on a daily basis. So even when the tent of the child of God is in the midst of danger, enemies and instability, he has a lot to celebrate. He enjoys the victory that his Lord grants to him on a daily basis. This Lord is our Lord who dwells with us in our tents and leads us forward in our sojourn. He meets our needs and gives us victory in all our battles as He takes our battles into His mighty hands. He carries our burdens and strengthens our hearts to face our daily situations. He carries our cares as we cast it all on Him. He gives us the right songs in our hearts and mouths to declare His mighty acts in and for us. When we enjoy His favors, it prompts and empowers us to shout for joy.

Dear reader, are you joyful in your tent today? Is there shouting of gratitude and happiness coming out of your tent even though the situation outside the tent is not safe and secure? Is your experience in the tent one of instability, anxiety and uncertainty or is it a place of victory and fulfillment? When your Lord dwells with you in your tent, it is as if you are dwelling in His tent. When the Lord comes to dwell in your tent, it instantly becomes the throne room of the Lord where He rules and overrules your life situations.  When your Lord rules your heart and imparts His peace which passes all understanding, there is no need for you to be anxious about what happens outside your tent. He takes over your concerns and makes them His concerns. He does what is necessary at the right time to defeat the purpose of the enemy who tries to attack you. His holy presence transforms your heart to a resting place in Him for your thoughts and aspirations. He led Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to live in tents and made them examples of happy people in spite of the great battles which they had to fight. His peace ruled their hearts even when there was turmoil outside. When the winds of discouragement, conflicts, failures and losses beat their tents, they stood the test of their faith and prevailed over all their circumstances and situations. Remember how the tent-dwelling Jacob had the privilege to bless the rich Pharaoh! Jacob also appropriated all the blessings of the Lord at Peniel and lived on the basis of the vision he received at Bethel. It is most exhilarating to realize that we are in the Lord’s tent and we enjoy the freedom and leading of His Spirit to praise His mighty name and sing to the power of His glory in our lives as we continue to live for Him.

Genesis 13:18 – So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he build an altar to the Lord.

 Thought for Today

Dwelling with the Lord in His tent takes away all our cares, burdens and anxieties and makes us shout for joy.

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GLEAN FOR FULFILLMENT!!

Glean for fulfillment!

Verse for Today: June 04, 2012

Ruth 2:19a – (Ruth’s) mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work?”

It is important where we glean each day of our lives. There are so many fields in this world which attract us to glean from. They give us temporary satisfaction, but what they provide only make us desire more of their supplies which never truly satisfies. They are good to look at and seem to be tasty when we first take a pick. But eventually they control our whole person and bind us to themselves which is difficult to break. Their resources create more and more thirst for the same thing with no way to stop. The world offers to give us wisdom, knowledge, recognition, appreciation, influence, power, prestige and prominence. As we take the first bite, we will develop taste for more and will put in all our efforts to earn more of it. Ultimately we will be ruined by it with total emptiness in our lives. This proves to us that it is important where we glean. Our choice determines the extent to which we are bonded to any force on earth. At the same time, we are given the privilege to glean from the field of the Lord Jesus. His field is full of good things which will satisfy us and give us fulfillment in life. His field is filled with His love, grace, peace, joy and rest. We are invited by His Spirit to glean from His field. We do not need to devour, but to simply glean and what we pick up will be sufficient to fulfill every desire in our hearts. When we taste the goodness of the Lord from His field, we would not have the desire to go back to the fields of the world. Our Lord gives only that which is good for us. His goodness transforms us into His character as we choose to glean from His field. Our lives will then be moved by His love with which we will love all that He loves and hates all that He hates. His grace will give us the impetus to deal in all issues related to us and others with compassion, patience and maturity. His peace will help us to be peaceful in all circumstances even when we are unable to understand the intricacies of our stressful situations. His joy will transform us to be joyful in the most difficult circumstances and in spite of it. His rest will enable us to rest in Him in all our situations which might be full of problems, failures, losses, shortages, weaknesses, resentment, rejection, loneliness and isolation.

Dear friend, are you gleaning the right things at the right place in your life today? Are you picking up the best from the most benevolent Lord Jesus and filling your life with His goodness? Is His love saturating your whole being with Himself? Remember, His love has no strings attached to it and no conditionality. His love comes to you when you experience isolation, rejection and hatred from others. His grace equips you with the potential to accommodate the most difficult circumstances and deal with the most difficult people for the sake of Jesus. His peace helps you to hope against hope through the darkest horizons of your days. When there is turmoil, thunder, storms, waves, fire and flood, His peace settles your heart and mind on Him who is the immovable Rock. His joy makes your heart filled with His bliss when your situation is painful with emotional afflictions and anguishes. He gives you rest when your emotional environment is volatile and restless. Today the Lord Jesus invites you to glean from His field and find fulfillment in life. You can find His field in His Word, His presence and His vineyard and you will never exhaust picking up His goodness from His vast and blessed field.

Psalms 23:2 – He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the quiet waters.

Thought for Today

When the field of the Lord is full of His goodness which guarantees absolute fulfillment, it is a waste of opportunity to seek satisfaction in the Vanity Fair of this world. 

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