FOUNTAIN OF PRAISE!!

Fountain of praise!

Verse for Today: Sunday, April 07, 2013

Luke 18:43 – Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

All that God accomplishes in this world are for the praise of His holy name. His acts are mysterious, astonishing and unparalleled. Jesus came to this world to touch and change the events and lives of people. It is amazing that when Satan caused to ruin the lives of human being through deception, God uses the same human lives to cause His name to be praised. Jesus used storms, sickness, shortages, failures and losses to cause people to praise His name. Every time He touched the lives of people and made them whole, it caused people to acknowledge it as a divine act. All who experienced His blessings praised Him. The blind man found that his blindness caused Jesus to receive praise from him and the onlookers. His blindness and begging has caused him to plead for healing from Jesus. Jesus made everyone to realize that when He touches lives and interferes in the events centering on people, it brings forth great changes in people’s lives. He comes to us today to make us realize that the various concerns and issues in our lives are used by Him to exhibit His power for our blessing. When He gives us jobs, positive results in our evangelistic initiatives, saving the souls of our dear ones, gives us victory in spiritual battle, good yield in our farms or leading us in our various ministries, we can see His hand and power in it all. When He accomplishes impossible things in our lives, it causes us to praise Him. When our prayers are answered, it causes His name to be praised. Sometimes, when He says ‘no’ or ‘wait’ to our prayers, the ultimate results make us to praise Him.  Today He wants to come and touch our lives in a special way to cause us to praise Him through the impact He causes in and around us.

Dear friend, are you depressed that certain unfortunate experiences came your way which has caused heartaches and frustrations in your life? Have you found that God has been silent and waiting to answer your prayers? Have you been going through difficulties of certain type like the blind beggar who sat at Jesus’ wayside? Jesus will not forsake you, but will come your way. One of these days, Jesus will walk by, just for your life to be changed. He knows that you have been struggling for some time and understands your troubled situations. He makes Himself available for you to cry unto Him for help. The crowd that is around will not be able to help you, but will only be a hindrance by rebuking you for disturbance. But Jesus is willing to stop for you with solutions to your predicaments. The blind man would have wondered as to why blindness came to his life! But the sight Jesus gave him amazed him and all who were around and they all praised Him. The pathetic beggar has now become a praising follower. His begging to man stopped when he begged God. The rebuke of the people could not shut his faith up. Even those who rebuked turned around to praising and rejoicing. Today Jesus wants to use your life and experiences to cause His name to be praised. But He expects you to cry unto Him for help even though He knows your situations well. He wants you to lift up your voice of faith to plead aloud for His touch. When you experience wholeness, He wants you to give your re-created life to Him to make it a fountain of praise to His name. When Jesus transforms your life, He wants it to be a source reasonable worship to Him.

John 11:40 - Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Thought for Today

God touches our lives to make us fountains of praise for Him.

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RESTORING SHEPHERD!!

Restoring Shepherd!

Verse for Today: Saturday, April 06, 2013

Luke 15:5 – When he finds (the lost sheep), (the shepherd) joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.

We live in a world that is lost. Its people are lost in the quagmire of sin and its evil consequences. All its systems are corrupt. Its sinful environment tires to influence our lives and uses its tactics to succumb us to its deception. Its wild fire of destruction catches us unaware. The confusion it creates in our souls leads us to fretting and doubting our faith. Sadly sometimes we are lost from our walk with the Lord like Peter and his brothers soon after the resurrection. We are pushed into searching for answers to our problems in the sea of life which will go in vain anyway. It is at such times that we realize how our Lord is searching us out in the sea billows of our lives. He comes to our troubled situations to find us and to carry us on His shoulders to the shore of His security and sustenance. He rejoices when each of us is restored to fellowship with Him. Like Peter, we are often lost in the sea of frustration and despondency. Our despair deepens when all our attempts to settle our problems rebound. Our Lord comes to us as our Great Shepherd who has compassion on our lost estate. He knows where we have gone and how we have gone away from Him. He comes to us in our trouble-spots to regain us to Himself. He doesn’t come to find fault with us, but to restore our broken hearts and lives and reestablish our ruptured fellowship with Him. He always takes initiatives by prompting our spiritual senses to see Him, hear His instructions and lead us to the shore of rest, fellowship, conviction and satisfaction. It is our blessed privilege today to be found by our Lord to draw us closer to Himself. He is joyful when He finds a lost son or daughter to rebuild our lives.

Dear friend, do you feel that you are lost and do not really know where you are spiritually? If your faith is not strong and if you start doubting the power of God in your life, you might feel like you are lost from the grace in which He has established you. You would have probably been succumbed to the pressures of the Vanity Fair of this world. Perhaps you are sucked deep into the whirlpool of the inner currents of the muddy and corrupt sea of life that you have been sailing. It is likely that you are being battered by financial crunch, conflicts in relationships, family pressures, loss in business or failure in the ministry and isolation from dear ones. These mighty winds might be blowing strongly against you and push you to the brink of trouble when you begin to wonder about challenges in life. But even in such situations, know that your Lord knows your situations well. He doesn’t want you to run away and insulate yourself and allow your life to sink into greater trouble. Your Lord wants you to come back to Him and sit on His shoulders to enjoy His love and care. He is more interested in your spiritual well-being than your success in this world. He is committed to meeting your needs according to His riches in glory and making you a blessing. He is coming after you to the very spot where you got yourself tangled to rescue you. He will take you out of all the webs of situations that try to clutter and weaken you. When He finds you and takes you out of your troubles, there is great joy in the restoration that He imparts in your life. There is no greater thrill than enjoying the care and compassion that we can experience in the hands of our loving Shepherd.

John 21:12 – Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”

Thought for Today

The love of the Shepherd comes back to search, find and restore the troubled sheep.

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OUR STOREHOUSE AND BARN!!

Our Storehouse and Barn!

Verse for Today: Friday, April 05, 2013

Luke 12:24 – Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

The way God takes care of all His creation is a great lesson in faith for His children. Such care is the most powerful message God wants to send to us today. God wants His children to make Him their source of all care and support. He is our storeroom and barn from where all our support flows. He has all the resources we need in His warehouse. His barns are full to overflowing and will never dwindle. Even when all His children use His storehouse, it will still be full. God’s warehouse is an ocean which never dries and has overwhelming capacity to meet all the needs of all God’s children. He has given us the freedom to draw from His storehouse each day by faith to meet all our needs. First we must have the faith to believe that His resources are for us to enjoy. Secondly we must believe that He has all that we need for our life and devotion. Third we must believe that He has enough and more for all our needs. Forth we must believe He gives us daily so that we do not need to store up for ourselves. Fifth, we must search and seek for His resources by faith and knock at His door for Him to direct our paths to finding what we need. Sometimes He delivers it in our laps or our yards for us to pick. At other times He sends it through His angels. Sometimes we need to go to Him in the shore to see how He has it cooked and kept ready for us. Some other times, we need to sow and water the fields and wait for the harvest. We might work for a wage in the field to which He leads us. But we must remember that it always comes from God as He cares for us in special ways. Today He strengthens us by giving us a lesson from the way He cares for the ravens, and reassures us that He will treat us better.  

Dear friend, are you experiencing tension, pressure and anxiety about your daily and future needs? Have unforeseen circumstances destabilized your life situations? Are you facing genuine shortages and insufficiency in your supply line? Just take a look at the way our Heavenly Father looks after the ravens by supplying all their needs. God wants you to learn great spiritual lessons from the ravens who find their supplies in His vast domain. When their Heavenly Father cares for them, these ravens are able to live above anxiety and doubts. They use their eyes to see where their food is kept and go for it. They search around, walking and flying, to find their food. They protect themselves among the trees and the bushes. They use their faculties to weather away heat, snow and rain without murmur. They do not waste their days worrying about their supply lines which are already spread before them by God. Today we have the object lesson of faith from these ravens. If God looks after these ravens so well, there need not be any doubt about us. If God listens to the cries of the ravens for food and help, there is no doubt that He will certainly listen to our cries and will supply all the resources we need to sustain ourselves. He treats us as most valuable to Him and has kept His storeroom full of blessings for our every need. Today let us cry unto Him and claim by faith all that He has set apart for our daily needs.

Psalms 107:9 – (The Lord) satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.  

Thought for Today

God is our storehouse and barn for all the resources He has kept for our daily needs.

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DAILY FAITH!!

Daily faith!

Verse for Today: Thursday, April 04, 2013

Luke 11:3 – Give us each day our daily bread.

Prayer is the fearless expression of our needs to God. It is based on the faith we have in God to whom we address it. The depth of our needs overrule our pride and compel us to pray. The consciousness of our depravity persuades us to approach the greatest Giver. It is also our conviction of the capacity and willingness of the giver. When Jesus instructed His disciples to pray for their daily needs, He pointed towards the all sufficient God and His inexhaustible resources. Our admission of the need is the first step towards prayer. Secondly we admit that we are coming to the most benevolent Giver who is our heavenly Father. Thirdly we express our needs in simple words. Fourthly it is an appeal and a compelling cry for needs to be met. Fourthly our prayer declares the Father as the compassionate giver. Fifthly we confess our utter nothingness and sheer lack of any other source to feed us. Seventh, it is the loud cry for the daily needs of a follower of Jesus. Eighth, it is a confession that we have no one else or no other place to go to. Ninth, it confirms our conviction that if we ask, it shall be given to us in the right measure and at the right time. Tenthly it is a daily total and complete dependence without anxiety. Moreover, it is a public declaration that we will not go to any other place or person with our needs. All these compelling reasons point towards a life of faith and dependence on our Father to meet all our daily needs. On the other hand, the Father has taken it as His duty to meet the daily needs of His children according to the riches of Jesus Christ in heaven.

Dear friend, are you dependent on the sources of the world to meet your needs? If so, you will be grossly frustrated because all these sources dry down over a period of time. If you are aware of your needs in depth and believe in God’s capacity to meet it out of His kindness, prayer will naturally flow from your heart. If you are willing and able to put all your trust in the Father in Heaven to meet all your needs all the time, then He is asking you to express it by going to Him each day with your petitions. He is sufficient to meet all your physical, emotional and spiritual needs on a daily basis. So there is no need to go to any other sources with your pleas.  Jesus taught the disciples that they ought to learn a lesson from the animals and birds that do not store up for their tomorrows, but depend on their creator to help them find their daily food. The instruction of Jesus is that we go to the Father each day with the needs of that day. Then our days will unfold with His the fountain of His supply line. It is astonishing that long before we ask the Father, He knows our needs and has provisions kept ready. It is He who gives you energy and capacity to work to earn a living each day. It is He who sends His ravens, widows or angels with daily support. It is He who waits for you at the shore of your sea of life with grilled fish, bread and water for you to eat and drink to satisfy your needs. When we extend our open hands to God, He will not send us empty handed, but will fill it with all that we need each day. When we pray for daily bread, we confess our willingness to be contented with whatever He gives because we know that He gives His best to His children. Today He gives us another opportunity to practice such faith of total dependence by asking and receiving.

Psalms 107:9 – He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Thought for Today

Our dependence on God for all the needs opens the windows of heaven to shower it upon us.

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ALL SUFFICIENT SHEPHERD!!

All Sufficient Shepherd! 

Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Luke 2:8 – And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

The greatest concern of our Great Shepherd is His beloved sheep that He purchased with His blood. He is out with us as in His green pastures by day or night. He watches over us as we rest and when we graze. He protects us from the enemy who tries to devour us. He is awake and never slumbers. His presence guarantees our safety, security, protection, provisions, peace and preservation. Our Shepherd lives for His sheep and has our utmost interest in His agenda. He makes all His resources available for us at all times. His powerful eyes are upon His sheep always to guide and lead us and to watch over us. He knows the dangers that confront His sheep and is ever so alert to see that they are protected from all attacks. We are invaluable to Him because as our suffering Shepherd, He sacrificed His life for us and endured the pain and agony of the cross for us. Through His stripes, all the ailments of the sheep are healed. He has a great relationship with each sheep and He recognizes us through our infirmities and frailties. He cares for all the weak ones and carries them on His shoulders as He walks with them. Our Shepherd never murmurs about our indiscipline, but deals with us through His staff and rod. He takes us to His grazing field where there are no shortages. He expects us to enjoy all that we need and keep trusting Him to provide us with our requirements on all our upcoming days. We are certainly fortunate to be in the flock of such a benevolent, loving, caring, kind and compassionate Shepherd who lives for our welfare and enrichment. When we have such a considerate Shepherd, there is no need for us to have anxiety about our provisions and protection!

Dear friend, do you ever feel abandoned, deprived and insecure in life? Are you afraid of the dangerous spiritual and moral darkness that prevails around you? Do you experience threats, uncertainty and chaos that loom large around you which take away your sleep and rest? Just open your eyes to see yourself in the flock of Jesus the Great Shepherd who is ever present with you. He protects you from all evil that linger everywhere to confuse your direction and drain your confidence in life. Surely you are living in a dark world, but the Son of Righteousness is shedding His brightness upon you. In His light, you will be able to see His provisions, protection, peace and provisions that are kept for you to gain confidence and courage. When we know and experience the presence of the Shepherd with us, we can enjoy His power and strength for our every spiritual, emotional and physical need. Such was the experience of Joseph, Daniel, Paul, Silas and Peter when they were locked up in the dungeons and dens of this world. David experienced the comfort and care of his Shepherd when he faced fierce and wild beasts like lion and bear, formidable enemies like Goliath and Saul and the attacks of the powerful armies of the enemy kings. When we know that our Lord is with us in His mighty power, we do not need to be afraid of beasts, villains and uncertainties around us. When we see our Great Shepherd in His glory dwelling with us through our spiritual eyes, our fears will be dispelled. We are more than conquerors in all these unfavorable situations because our victorious Shepherd is with us. Today let us enjoy the comfort His presence brings to us and experience His peace which ought to settle our emotions at rest in Him.

Psalms 95:7 – For (the Lord) is our God and we are people of His pasture, the flock under His care.   

Thought for Today

At the demonstration of the power of the presence of the Great Shepherd, all fears and uncertainties will disappear.

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BLESSINGS FOR BELIEVING!!

Blessings for Believing!   

Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Luke 1:45 – Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.

A special blessing is experienced by all who believe in God’s promises as they wait by faith for its fulfillment. When God’s promises are fulfilled, it gives His people special joy as each fulfillment helps their faith to grow. They wait for God to speak to them through the written Word to strengthen their faith. They search the Scriptures daily to see what God has in store for them. These promises illuminate the glory of Jesus into their hearts because all promises are fulfilled in Him. So when God’s children read His promises, they believe it with their whole heart and soul because they are sure of its accomplishment. Thus they develop the conviction that each passing moment brings them closer to the fulfillment of these promises and enhances their expectancy. When they see the fulfillment of these promises in the horizon of their lives by faith, it brings joy unspeakable to their hearts. At the same time the Spirit of God who indwells in us will enable us to believe it. When God speaks and illuminates His promises to us, we receive the enabling to take it into our hearts personally and develop the confidence that it is for us in our particular situations. A promise is an announcement of what God is going to do for us in our lives in the days to come. All promises have God’s signature of certainty on it and so it will certainly come through. Thus we have the assurance of promise and its fulfillment by faith and the enabling to believe that in a matter of time it will come through. Such certainty fills our hearts with faith to consider the promise to have been fulfilled even before its realization, and takes us forward by faith to see its culmination. Elizabeth, Mary, Gideon, Joseph and David had such assurance which they experienced in their lives and found that it strengthened their faith to see its fulfillment. We are given promises by the same Lord today. His Spirit keeps giving us reassurances that in Christ it shall be doubtlessly accomplished.

Dear reader, do you ever wonder how God’s promises fill your heart with happiness long before they are fulfilled? Are you shaken by circumstances about the certainty of God’s promises and thus filling you with doubt and confusion about its fulfillment? If you allow the seeds of doubt sowed in your heart about God’s promises, a small plant of anxiety and apprehension will germinate which will grow into a large tree which will kill the joy of faith and expectancy in your life. The seeds of doubt, confusion and unbelief are sowed by the enemy of your soul and his agents. The enemy will add manure and water for his seeds to grow if we give him space and opportunity. The resultant tree will bring forth fruits of bitterness, disillusionment and depression which will challenge our faith and slowly make a confused doubter out of you. As you keep doubting about God’s promise and thus quench the Spirit of God, the enemy will work further in your heart not to take God’s promises seriously. Then you are in a way making God a liar because you no longer believe in God’s Word which is eternally secure in heaven. But if we sow the seeds of faith and trust, the tree of courage and confidence in God will germinate and will bring forth fruits of patience, maturity, peace and joy. Our heart will be filled with the sap of Jesus Christ to believe all that God has spoken and will be filled with the joy of the Lord which will be our strength to keep going by faith. Thus we are challenged to believe God and shape our days accordingly.

1 Peter 2:6b – The one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.

Thought for Today

God’s promises are divine announcements of what He will do in our lives in the days to come.

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GIFTS BY GRACE!!

Gifts by grace!

Verse for Today: Monday, April 01, 2013

Matthew 25:15 – To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his ability and he went on his journey.

Our God is a giving God. He is absolutely abundant in resources of all kinds and has the desire and willingness to share it among His children. He knows our abilities and capacities to use His resources and gives us accordingly. His resources have the inherent power to enlarge and increase if used according to His instructions. He gives different resources to different servants because He knows who can do what with each resource at different times and places. He expects His servants to employ His resources to make it a blessing to others. It is He who decides to distribute His resources according to His will and pleasure. God’s resources are the different graces that He gives to His servants to be of use in the lives of those who do not have it. All the material support that He gives to His servants is out of His grace.  What He gives to His servants is not based on their worthiness to receive anything from Him, but on His benevolence and compassion. He gives to meet the spiritual, emotional and social needs of His servants.  All that His servants have are gifts from the Master. He gives to us all according to His riches in glory and no one is left behind without anything. He gives us because He cares for us and is full of compassion for us. He gives us because He is interested in our sustenance, growth and development. He gives us because He knows that we are a set of poor, hungry, thirsty, deprived and battered people. He gives us like a shepherd feeds and cares for his sheep. He gives to meet every need at all times. But He wants us to realize that He is far more important than any gift that He gives us. He wants us to show our gratefulness to Him by serving Him with what He has entrusted with us.  

Dear friend, are you feeling deprived and abandoned in life? Do you think that you are not important because you are not given as much as others are given by God? But if you look at what others have and compare it with what is entrusted with yourself, you will not have the time to enjoy and use what you are given. Come to think of it, who among us is qualified or worthy to receive anything from our God! If at all we have received anything, it is out of God’s grace and compassion. It has pleased Him to consider us worthy to receive His best. First of all, we must feel satisfied with what we are given and should not fall into the temptation to make comparisons. Secondly, we must use what is given to us without hiding or hoard it. If we do not use what we are given, we do not have any right to ask for more. He expects us to use the energy He has given us to employ the resources He has entrusted with us rather than make negative comparisons which drain away our joy and lead to grumbling. Let us look into our lives and marvel at what has been entrusted with us and be compelled to employ it for the Master’s glory. If we are found faithful in using God’s resources which are given to us, He might be pleased to give us more to be employed for Him. Let us never complain about what we do not have, but be grateful for what has been already received and endeavor to use it for Him. When we need more, it will be given in the right measure to meet every need at the right time and place.

Psalms 103:5 – (The Lord) satisfied your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thought for Today

Employing what is given to us for the Master’s affairs is the sure way to receive more grace from Him.

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