YOU'RE NOT ALONE!!

You’re not alone!

Verse for Today: Thursday, March 07, 2013

Matthew 1:23 – The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means, “God with us.”

God has been with His people in His power and presence ever since man was created. Often man tried to run away from God, but God always came running after man because of His interest, commitment and love for man. He demonstrated His power and strength in delivering them from their low estate and meeting their multifarious needs. He dwelt among them in their camps in the tabernacle. God spoke to them through His prophets and led them. But when God demonstrated His love to man in no unequivocal terms, He came to dwell among His people physically. This meant that God had to take a body like their body to demonstrate to them that He knows all their physical experiences in depth. Thus God came to grip with the reality of human sufferings, pain, misery, depravity and isolation. He was born as a baby, and He grew up to experience rejection, intimidation, criticism, misunderstanding, distortion and persecution. In the midst of it all, He traveled around to minister to the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of the people who encountered suppression, oppression, slavery, hunger, deprivation, social stigma, demon possession and spiritual darkness. He lived among such people and welcomed them to have fellowship with Him. He released people from spiritual bondage and taught them eternal truths. Today He is with us, though unseen, as the living Word, to enrich, empower and enable us to enjoy true spiritual freedom and all the blessings of the heavenly realms. He offers us peace in a world without peace. He gives us satisfaction in a world full of frustrations. His presence is available to all who seek Him diligently.

Dear friend, do you feel lonely, rejected, isolated, unwanted, unloved and depraved in the stark realities of life? Do you think that you are all alone to fight your battles and carry your burdens in life? Are you facing fierce situations in life which make you shudder and wonder whether life has any meaning? Today Immanuel comes to you to remind you that you are not all alone and that He is with you as your inseparable companion in all your tough and rough situations. The awareness and faith that He is with you will strengthen you to fight your battles in His strength and mighty power. In your loneliest moments, He fortifies you with His love and fills your heart with the assurance that He will never leave you nor forsake you. In times of need, He comes to meet it all according to His riches in glory. When you are hurt, He comes to nurse your wounds and to apply oil and wine. He gives you wisdom to make decisions and choices which are part of His plan for you. He uses your hands to touch the lives of the suffering people around. He travels with you through the rough patches of life to take you by the hand and lead you forward. He helps you to fight temptations and to become an overcomer. He teaches you patience to wait for His time to meet all your emotional and physical needs. Our Immanuel lives in us, with us and leads and guides us to march forward victoriously every day of our lives. Every tear will be wiped by His hands and every hurt soothed and healed by His Word. When He is with us, every burden is lightened and all darkness turned to bright light. Today it is our blessed privilege to rejoice that we are not alone in all our battles in life and that our Immanuel is with us every step of the way.

John 14:18 – I will not leave you as orphans; I will come with you.

Thought for Today

The presence of the unseen Immanuel is sufficient guarantee to meet the challenges of all our situations. 

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BEST PROVISIONS!!

Best provisions!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Genesis 45:20 – Don’t worry about your personal belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. (NLT)

When God bestows upon us all the blessings of the heavenly places, there is no scope for us to be anxious about the mundane things in life. His blessings are far beyond the earthly and the perishable. His blessings are eternal rather than the temporal. They are inexhaustible and incomparable to anything that we know or imagine. This doesn’t mean that He wants us to throw away what He has brought our way for our use and for His glory. But He wants us to live in this world with the perspective of the heavenly and the eternal. When Joseph’s brothers were to migrate to Egypt, it was a temporary arrangement with an eternal purpose. But their human thinking was centered on their personal belongings. At the same time, Joseph had already earmarked the best that Egypt had for them. When Joseph had so much in store for his brothers and their families, there was no reason for them to be anxious about their future. Today we are reminded of the best that our God has set apart for our future. He wants us to see it all through the eyes of faith and go forward as He leads us on a daily basis. The life in this Egypt is temporary and for a short time until we go to our eternal home in the Heavenly Canaan. God has His best for our daily living here and now. But our anxiety might prevent us from using what He has given us. God wants us to be detached from the temporal if we want to enjoy the eternal. By faith we can enjoy the eternal here and now because we are spiritually seated in heaven and given the grace to appropriate all that is ours in our Father’s home.  But it is imperative that we stop being anxious about the temporal to enjoy all the goodness that awaits us.

Dear friend, are you boggled with anxiety about your temporal belongings and expend much of your energy about the consequences of displacing it? Are you losing your inner joy by being anxious about what will pass away? Are you using your abilities to amass the temporal and be bothered about its safety and upkeep? God gives His goodness for you all the days of your earthly life which will be a prelude to the life that is to come. It is God’s desire that you enjoy all His goodness each day of your life. As He cares for you, He wants you to cast all your cares on Him and live without anxiety. He has promised to give us our necessities each day of our lives so that we can face the cares of each day without anxiety. He has already made us seated with Him in the heavenly realms to experience and enjoy. When He sees our anxiety about the little things in life, He reminds us that our anxiety is unwarranted and illogical. He wants us to focus on all the goodness that has been set apart for us to enjoy each day. The Father of goodness will only give us what is good for our spiritual well-being. He will honor our simple faith. Our life of faith thwarts anxiety because our faith is based on the promises of the Father of goodness. Anxiety comes from our enemy, his world around us and our weak flesh to fight and weaken our faith. When our anchor is our God of all mercies, we would not need to be anxious and leave all our days and situations to Him to handle. When anxiety challenges our faith, let us focus on the never-changing promises of our God and claim victory over it.

Philippians 4:6 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Thought for Today

The eyes of faith will see the provisions of God which will defeat the challenge of anxiety.

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INTIMACY WITH THE KING!!

Intimacy with the King!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Genesis 45:04 – Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.”

There are built-in restrictions and protocols for us to go close to the dignitaries of the world. But this is not so with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He invites us to go to Him for intimate fellowship. He desires that we go as close to Him as possible to enjoy His presence and power. We were once upon a time enemies and people who deserted Him. We were part of humanity which crucified Him. But still He invites us to go to Him to share in His glory and majesty. We can go to Him any time at any place and speak to Him or ask Him for favors. Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and removed the air of suspense around. The brothers had no right to go to him because they hated him, dealt brutally with him, put him in a broken cistern and finally sold him as a slave. While he was crying from the broken cistern, they grossly ignored his cries for mercy and enjoyed their meal. But Joseph didn’t treat them according to their sins against him. He loved them and forgave them of all their iniquities and remembered it no longer. He considered all his experiences to be part of God’s plan to build him up to become the savior of the clan. He didn’t keep any restrictions between him and his brothers. He gave them full freedom to have fellowship with him in spite of the fact that he has become the ruler of Egypt. Today the Lord Jesus Christ invites us to have unrestricted and timeless access, interaction and fellowship with Him. It is our opportunity to behold His glory and get ourselves lost in the wonder and awe of His majesty. He has opened our eyes to see Him in His marvelous and glittering glory so that it would change our outlook to life. He wants our lives to be centered on Him. He has positionally made us seated with Him and blessed us with all the blessings of the Heavenly Places. Today He is our Shepherd and He has given us full access and right to all His resources.

Dear friend, are you appropriating all the rights and privileges granted to you by the Lord because of His grace, compassion and love to you? He has forgiven you of all your iniquities and put it all at the bottom of the ocean. He will not remember our forgiven sins any more. He has declared our eternal relationship and blessings in and through Him and given us the privilege to enjoy all the blessings attached to such a rich and royal relationship. He gives us the freedom to go close to Him with all that we want to tell Him. He will listen to our prayers, clear our doubts, meet our needs and accept our worship. The closer we are to Him, the greater will be our opportunity to be filled with Him and His glory. When we are closer to Him, we will be able to forget all your travails in this world. We don’t need to depend on this world for our sustenance because our Lord will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. His presence will reassure us of our current and future concerns and needs. Just as Joseph’s brothers enjoyed their fellowship with him, we can enjoy our fellowship with the Lord without fear or doubt. When we go to Him with our tears, pain, misery, failures, losses, anxieties and inadequacies, our Lord will meet every need. The closer we are with the Lord and the more time we spend with Him, the faster will be our transformation to His likeness. Today if we do not draw close to our Lord, we will lose the blessed opportunity to enjoy royal fellowship.

Matthew 11:28 – Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

Thought for Today

Our dwelling with the Lord will take away all our cares and give us joy unspeakable. 

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GIVING BEYOND EXPECTATIONS!!

Giving beyond expectations!

Verse for Today: Monday, March 04, 2013

Genesis 42:25 – Joseph gave orders to fill (the brothers’) bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey.  (NIV)    

The way God gives to His people is not simply according to their needs, but according to His status and dignity. He gives His people far more than they ever deserve or expect. He fills our bags to the brim. We are asked to express our love to Him by giving to Him, but He gives it back in kind. He gives us provisions for our journey so that we would not need to be anxious about our daily needs. We can learn these lessons about God from the way Joseph gave to his brothers. They came to buy grains with money, but He gave them far more than their money could fetch. He filled their bags to maximum capacity. He returned their money to them even though they were not aware of it until later. He made separate provisions for journey so that all the grains he gave could be used for the whole family. This is a prime example of grace which gives everything to those who least deserve it. Joseph knew their needs more intimately and gave them out of his love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Today when we go to God, He knows our needs intimately and gives us richly to meet all our needs because our God is immeasurably rich and amply benevolent. But we must go to Him, ask in faith and expect Him to give us to meet every need. He will not send us back empty handed or with our bags half empty. He gives His best to us for all our situations. Those who go to him with empty bags will go back with their hearts and bags full. When we open our bags, we will be in for great amazement seeing all that He fills us with as happened to Joseph’s brothers. Our God’s loving gifts will cause us to be eternally grateful to Him and be enthralled in His benevolence.

Dear friend, are you truly needy or do you feel self-sufficient? If you feel self-sufficient, you will not be able to get anything from your Creator and Sustainer God who wants to give you according to His benevolence. He wants you to go to Him by admitting your intimate needs, along with great expectations. He will fill your empty bags and hearts with His goodness and riches. He has enough to give to all who ask Him. He knows what to give us in the right measure at the right time. If you go with great expectations, He will meet it all according to His riches in glory. He will make sure that you do not lack any good thing. He desires that you go to Him with your mouths wide open for Him to fill it with His best.  His gifts build us up for His eternal kingdom. By going to God, we declare our emptiness and brokenness for Him to fill us with what He is pleased to give us. Today let us draw near unto Him with our mouths wide open for Him to fill us to the brink. He will give us enough for all the days of our journey. Our bags will be full with His riches which He wants us to use to feed the hungry among our household. When He gives, it surpasses all our expectations and satisfies our every longing. We have every right to go to Him because He is our Lord, Shepherd, Master and Provider. When we have such a benevolent and rich God, why should we be reluctant to go to Him and ask Him?

Psalms 81:10 – Open your mouth wide and I will fill it with good things. (NLT)

Thought for Today

God is the most benevolent giver who gives us His riches according to His measurement, status and dignity to meet all our most intimate needs.

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REWARD AND COMPENSATION!!

Reward and compensation!

Verse for Today: Sunday, March 03, 2013

Genesis 41:52 – Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.” (NLT)

Life in the land of sufferings of various kinds is not easy to go through. When we are made to suffer for no fault of ours, the frustration is paramount. We find it difficult to understand why we go through such sufferings. The world tries to put us under the cloud of suspicion and doubt. Sufferings come in procession and take us to a chain of bitter experiences. When we come out of one, another persecution awaits us. It is at this time that patience eludes us and makes us wanting to quit. But God allows persecutions in our lives and uses it to mold us for His purposes. Joseph was a prey to persecution and sufferings of various kinds one after the other for thirteen years. He was hated and rejected by his own brothers and they sold him into slavery in a far country. Later he was morally tempted, falsely accused and imprisoned. Even when he did good to co-prisoners, his biggest benefactor forgot him. But God did not forget him and elevated him to the second highest position in the country and gave him authority over those who falsely accused and imprisoned him. The lonely Joseph was given a family and children. As children were born to him, Joseph found meaningfulness in life. He took his children as compensation for the sufferings he endured. He was rewarded for his patience, faithfulness, godliness and righteousness. The God who did not forget Joseph will not forget us as we go through sufferings of various kinds today. He challenges us to be patient and waiting for His time to come for our reward.

Dear friend, are you enduring persecution and sufferings of various kinds in spite of your faithfulness? Are you a victim of manipulations and schemes of the enemy to malign you? Such experiences were in the lives of God’s servants like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Nehemiah, Moses and Paul. It was not easy for them to go through bitter persecution and false accusations. But God gave them patience and strength to keep fighting battles against the evil forces. He was with them as they were threatened and maligned. He gave them the faith to hold on and not to quit. But when the season of sufferings passed by, God elevated some of them to greater positions. Some, like Paul, had to go through such experiences all through their lives, and found that God helped them to fight the good fight and finish their course with patience and faith. Joseph went through such bitter and painful experiences all alone and there was none to plead his case. He was lonely, isolated and battered. But the vision God gave him during his adolescent years was in his thoughts. He kept going by putting all his faith in God’s faithfulness. He attributed all the grace he received to his God. He took the birth of his children as a compensation for the sufferings, grief and loneliness he endured. Thus Joseph was able to give glory to God for all that had happened in his life.  The life of Joseph is a great challenge to all the suffering children of God to hold on to His promises and wait patiently. God will compensate us for all our painful experiences with special blessings from Him. Sometimes we get a reversal of our painful situations and at other times we will enjoy God’s peace and grace until the last breath. But ultimately God takes glory to Himself for all that happens in our lives. As we continue to serve God with patience, determination and commitment, He will give us the strength to keep going by holding on to His promise of rewards at the Bema.

Colossians 3:24 – Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that Master you are serving is Christ. (NLT)

Thought for Today

Serving the Lord with patience in trying times will find its fulfillment with ample rewards.

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INSTRUMENT OF HEALING!!

Instrument of healing!

Verse for Today: Saturday, March 02, 2013

Genesis 40:07 – “Why are your faces so sad today?”

There is a growing indifference among people about the difficulties of others. Often we keep away from others’ problems because we think we have enough of our own to handle. But our problems are often windows through which we become aware of others’ problems and to help them to handle theirs. Joseph has always been concerned about others. At seventeen, he was willing to go after his brothers to inquire about their welfare. In the prison he was not only a servant of the prisoners, but a concerned counselor. When he saw their dejected and sad faces, he inquired about it out of concern. He could have ignored it because he had his own hurt due to unlawful imprisonment. But he ignored his situation for a moment and expressed his concern about others. His father Jacob was a destitute, but he was keen to help to get water for the sheep at the well where he met Rachel. We see this attitude of concern in Joseph when he dealt with his brothers before and after they settled in Egypt. Moses as a runaway youth had concern for the helpless shepherdess girls. While in prison, Paul was more concerned about the sufferings of others than his own. The Lord Jesus demonstrated this concern while on the cross and welcomed a dying soul to heaven. Today we are placed in a brutal world with the ministry of concern for others. Joseph challenges us to forget for a moment about our own pain, misery and persecution, and help, support and strengthen those who are going through battles in life. God will use such initiatives to forget our own problems. He wants us to serve others with the grace He has given us. It might be possible that such responses will help us also with our own conditions.

Dear friend, have you been dumped by your situations and circumstances into the dark dungeons of life? Perhaps you are sunk deep in self-pity and feel griped because of the unfair treatment thrust upon you. But if you want true joy and deliverance from the predicament that you are in, focus your attention on others who are suffering. If you share the power of God to work in the difficult circumstances of other lives, you will find divine joy filling your life. When we look at others through the eyes of Jesus as He looked at the thief on the cross, we will be able to recognize and minster unto the dejected, depressed and battered lives. If you share the grace of God in your life with them, they will taste grace in their hearts. Perhaps they might forget what you have done for them, but you are being used as an instrument of God in their lives. Only those who know the Great Physician can take sick people to Him for healing, peace and comfort. Perhaps there are those who want to talk to someone about their burdens, but do not know if we would listen. So let us today forget our own pain and depravity and become sensitive to the needs of others. Every person we meet leaves us with an opportunity to minister unto. Every opportunity we get to see a sad face is God’s message for us to touch that life with the healing and soothing hand of Jesus. Every hurt in this world needs the Balm of Gilead, our Lord Jesus, who is the panacea for all the ills of humanity. When we pour out the Living Water, it will lead others to quench their thirst, cool their burning emotions and settle the turmoil in their lives.  Let us today act as salt to heal the emotional sickness of those who come our way. Let us melt away so that other lives will become enriched with Jesus.  

2 Corinthians 6:10 – Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.  (NLT)

Thought for Today

Alleviating the pain of others make us forget our own miseries.

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RECOGNITION AMIDST OPPOSITION!!

Recognition amidst opposition!

Verse for Today: Friday, March 01, 2013

Genesis 39:2 – The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.

Success according to the world depends on intelligence, skills and tactics. But God’s children find success because their God is with them to guide them and create favorable circumstances for them. Their success is living for God daily and accomplishing His agenda for each day. God gives His children wisdom, knowledge and grace to deal in their daily situations. When God is with us, we become a blessing to the people we serve. But the enemy of our souls will try to destroy our testimony and peace through false allegations. Joseph had a wonderful upbringing under his godly father. Joseph was able to distinguish between evil and righteousness at home and live to fear God in all that he did. He realized the importance of the dreams the Lord gave him, even though its significance was not clear to him. When his brothers did evil in the sight of God, he had the spiritual insight to report it to their father so that they could be corrected appropriately. He was an obedient son and willingly went in search of his brothers without murmur or fear. Joseph was a faithful worker who knew that his God was watching his every move. So he worked to primarily please God and then only his master. When his master gave him greater responsibilities, we do not see him puffed up or misuse it for filthy lucre. Thus when his ways were right before God, he became progressively successful. Joseph is a prime example of a slave who was elevated to be a steward because he was first and foremost submitted to God. When we use all our abilities for God, He will enlarge our territories and elevate our prospects for His glory. But we must watch out not to succumb to the pressures of the enemy. Like Joseph, we must work as unto the Lord and wait for Him to recognize and reward us at His time for His glory. We should suffer without murmur when the world gets upset about our success and try to pull us down.  

Dear friend, are you finding success in your ways according to divine principles and precepts? The world is prompting us to adopt dubious ways to get richness and recognition. It encourages bribery, nepotism, exaggeration, leg pulling, gossip and discrediting others to achieve success. But God wants us to serve to please Him. He wants us to have right motives and transparency in our dealings and relationships. God’s ways are laid bare before us in His precepts. No matter whom we work for, God wants us to serve Him. Daniel, Nehemiah and David served to please God and so He elevated them. Today God is looking for men and women who are willing to serve Him no matter whom they work for. Then the world will see how the hand of God is upon us. This will either provoke the world to fight us with hatred and false allegations like Haman, or confess our God like Nebuchadnezzar.  Joseph pursued the path of God as he served under Potiphar. His master was able to see Joseph’s faithfulness and gave him greater responsibilities. Even when temptations came, he resisted it because of the fear of God in his heart. Even though the enemy’s false accusations led him to suffer, God further elevated him to a place from where Joseph became an instrument of blessings for people during famine and the path for God’s plan of redemption. If we are willing to suffer and pay the price to stand for truth, transparency, fear of God and selflessness, we will find favor in God’s eyes which will keep us going in the midst of opposition, misunderstanding and persecution. 

Psalms 1:3 – He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

Thought for Today

When we serve on the basis of God’s precepts, He will see our toil and reward us at the right time.

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