DEEPER TRUST, GREATER REJOICING!!

Deeper trust, greater rejoicing!

Verse for Today: Thursday, August 11, 2011
Psalms 33:21 - In (the Lord) our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.

Rejoicing is a state of the expression of exceeding joy and happiness. It is the true and exuberant expression of internal bliss. It encompasses a person's body and soul. It is exceeding joy which affects one's total personality. Rejoicing person often forgets about him and expresses his true joy involving his every faculty. This kind of joy comes to us when something wonderful happens to us. For ordinary people such joy is situational. When something good happens to them, they will be exuberant, but it wanes away when situations become cloudy. But for the children of God, such joy is the result of the consistent inner peace, contentment, thankfulness, sense of security and hope that they find in the Lord. These inner feelings and certainties come to them when they enjoy divine assurance about all their situations as they trust in the Lord. Then He fills their hearts with the confidence to keep holding on to Him and His promises for everything in their lives. Thus when they enjoy unexplainable and deep peace and security, there is no cause for anxiety or apprehension in their hearts. Their faith becomes strong in the Lord and His ability to look after all their affairs. So instead of being anxious about their tomorrows, they enjoy the certainty of their 'today' and 'tomorrow' in the Lord. They hold on to the assurance that because He looks after their affairs, they can leave their uncertain tomorrows to Him. They do not any longer have any confusions or doubt about their tomorrows because their Lord knows about their tomorrows. Their trust in the Lord helps them to believe that all things are possible with their Lord and that He has already gone before them to make their way forward. This certainty fills their hearts with joy unspeakable and makes them rejoice in the Lord.

Dear reader, do you have rejoicing life in spite of your circumstances, or are you depressed about the clouds in your horizon? Are you forgetting to enjoy the grace that the Lord has given you for today? Do you happen to dwell in an imaginary future which looks bleak? Do you have a negative thought pattern and assume that things might go wrong tomorrow? Are you expecting a rainy day and worrying about it while the Lord has given you an umbrella of promises to carry with you to protect you from the eventualities of the future? Remember, you are under the wings of the Lord and He is carrying you on His shoulders. He has already gone before you and prepared your way. He knows all that is going to happen to you in your tomorrows and has made provisions for your well-being as you live to serve Him. The enemy of your soul might be sending you a bleak picture about your future. But if you trust in the Lord who knows your tomorrows, you will have Him with you to face your tomorrows. Remember, He is the maker of your tomorrows and has you in His mind as tomorrow unfolds in front of you. When this assurance is allowed to pervade your whole being, it will send streams of joy and happiness in your whole person with the expressions of rejoicing. The enemy of our souls trembles when he sees a rejoicing child of God. He can't withstand the scene of a child of God who fully trusts in God and facing the future courageously and joyfully. So he will try to confuse your mind and shake your faith. But let us look instead unto the Lord, just like Peter who walked on the water, and take courage to walk on the difficult terrains of life. Let us look unto the author and finisher of our faith and march forward with a rejoicing heart.

Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice.

Thought for Today
Rejoicing stems from deeper trust in the Lord and resultant faith and confidence.

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BLISSFUL INHERITANCE!!

Blissful Inheritance

Verse for Today: Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Psalms 33:12 - Blessed in the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.

True bliss comes to any person or group of people because of their state of affairs. It gives them both process happiness and destination happiness when they are secure and that their needs of all sorts are met. Looking at the way the world is moving forward without any certainty for any thing, whether it is in health, wealth, happiness, weather, relationships, future and the like, it is very difficult to say that there is any scope for the people of the world to enjoy true bliss. But true bliss can be ours if someone is able to guarantee it as a reality day after day. United Nations or governments and systems of any country of the world today have utterly failed to provide such certainties for human life or environment. But such an experience of true blessedness can be ours if God Almighty is on our side. If we know Him personally and have a personal relationship where He is our Father and we are His children, we will be able to enjoy true bliss and happiness. When we know this God intensely, we will be able to see that He regards us at high esteem. He has become our God and He has chosen us as His inheritance. This inheritance of God was lost to sin, world and Satan, but God purchased them through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's Son, on the cross of Calvary and made us His personal property. As we are His inheritance earned through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are considered most precious and valuable. He has taken possession of us for Himself for eternity and would not allow us to be lost or deformed. He would not want us to be hurt, mutilated or exasperated because of what goes on around us in this sinful world. He guarantees true happiness for us and does everything for us so that we would enjoy this happiness in spite of difficult circumstances which prevail around us.

Dear reader, are you enjoying the true blessedness that God has brought you in? He allowed His Son Jesus to carry all our sorrows and burdens and paid the price necessary to purchase us from the clutches of sin and Satan. He has sealed us with His Spirit and no one can break that seal of ownership. Our bliss is guaranteed eternally. When we are in this world, He has kept us in His love, grace, mercy and compassion so that we would enjoy His security and safety in a world full of uncertainty and instability. He has equipped us with His Spirit who is the Spirit of joy and peace with which we are fully surrounded. His joy is joy in spite of circumstances and His peace is peace in the midst of turmoil. He makes sure that there is no diminishing of value of us who are His inheritance. He has invested His Spirit in our bodies which are the earthen vessels. He allows our earthen vessels to be broken so that the investment inside will be visible to the outside world. He wants us to be broken in our selves so that our selves will disappear and the investment of Jesus Christ inside us will be visible to the outside world. The bliss that we are in is the bliss of the Lord Jesus Christ who was full of joy even when He was on the cross. As He carried the cross, suffered persecution in the hands of the soldiers and false accusations from the mob and the religious leaders, the Lord Jesus was joyful and full of divine bliss. This is the state of blessedness that is given to us because of our position as God's special people and His inheritance. So each experience that we encounter is an opportunity for our internal joy to be exemplified and exhibited to the Christless world that is around us. This is why we are a challenge to the world and to Satan who try to provide artificial joy to people who do not belong to God. Let us take our experiences in this life as great challenges and opportunities to express the true blessedness that is given to us by God and praise God for making us worthy of such experiences and expressions.

Psalms 94:14 - For the Lord will not reject His people; He will never forsake His inheritance.

Thought for Today
God's children, as His inheritance, are in His hands which is the happiest place in the whole universe.

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WELL-BEING AMIDST INSTABILITY!!

Well-being amidst instability!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Psalms 31:21 - Praise be to the Lord, for He showed His wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.

It is amazing how the children of God are shaken in the seemingly strong cities where they dwell. Their strongholds are besieged by the enemy. Their health wanes and pockets become empty. Many of their close associates leave them lonely and desperate. Their faith starts to crumble and they are slowly prone to doubt and confusion. The enemy will come around to ask whether their God was still alive. The enemy uses such times to ridicule them by asking as to what had happened to the promises of their Lord. The religions or philosophies do not offer any help or support at such times. There will be people to make judgements and to pass negative remarks. Thus when the foundations shake, there is very little that the righteous can do. But there is no need for the righteous to give up hope because even when the foundations shake, their Lord will not be shaken. He can continue to dwell in the shaky city in the power of God because the enemy does not have the power to block the Lord of Lords. When the situation becomes so hopeless, the Lord enters the scene to change the scenario. He is primarily interested in setting the wounded and lonely heart of His children who dwell in a place which is no more secure. He comes into fill their hearts and vision with His glory so that they can see the scenario around them through the glory of the Lord. As they see the Lord in their situation, their countenance changes to one of confidence and courage. Their hearts are filled with strength and hope in the Lord. At a time of loneliness, the Lord pours His abundant love into their hearts and makes them feel wanted. The love of the Lord covers them like the wings of a bird. No force of the enemy can ever enter the canopy of His love. A stream of confidence and hope flow into their hearts to give them the safety and security that they desperately need to live peacefully.

Dear friend, do you feel that your foundations of health, finance, circle of friendship, security and status falling away? Are your friends leaving you behind and running away from you? Is the media trying to convince you that life ahead is dark and cloudy? You probably realize that the enemy is attacking the social and economic systems around and shaking it just like the quakes rattle the earth? In the midst of it all, you need to know that your Lord is with you. He pours His love into our hearts to fill you with His confidence and care. When we are filled with His love, we will begin to enjoy the security and safety that He provides. His love encompasses around us and protects our hearts from negative thinking and from losing confidence. In His love, He comes to cover our hearts from getting discouraged and disillusioned. Even if an army besieges against us, we do not need to be afraid because our Lord is with us. When our situations become shaky, we will be strengthened by His presence and promises. His Spirit will help us to meditate on His power which prevails over us. It is amazing to know that God the Father loves us with the same love with which He loves the Lord Jesus Christ because we are in Christ as His children. We will enjoy the security of the Lord like Rahab when the city of Jericho was beginning to fall apart. Our security will be like that of Daniel when kings and kingdoms emerged and disappeared. This is because we stand on the rock of ages and not in a slippery place. We are placed on the sure ground of the promises of our Lord which will never change. These great privileges which are bestowed upon us ought to make us confident to face any eventuality with courage because our Lord is with us and He covers us with His love and glory.

Psalms 18:32 - It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

Thought for Today
Even when the environment around us shakes and rattles, the love of God will keep our hearts and minds in perfect peace and tranquility to meet all challenges with confidence and courage.

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HOPE IS THE PANACEA!!

Hope is the panacea!

Verse for Today: Monday, August 08, 2011
Psalms 31:24 - Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

Only those who kept their hope in the Lord and in His mighty power know if it is the right thing to hope in the Lord. They have gone through difficulties of various kinds. They faced burdens, failures, oppression, opposition, persecution, battles, intimidation, false accusations, gossip and misrepresentation in their lives. They would have been tempted to quit at times because of severe testing. But they can tell us today that they hoped in the Lord for deliverance and found Him to be faithful in all His promises. God's children come out of utmost heat of situations only because of their hope, trust, faith and dependence in the Lord. When our faith is shaken, we can go to the hall of fame of faith in the Bible and meet great men and women of faith who made it to the end of their journey only through hope in the Lord. When we find stiff opposition in our ministries, we can go to the pages of the history of missions and listen to the testimonies of great warriors of faith like Moody, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, Studd, Judson, Muller, Amy Carmichael, Sundar Singh and others, and take comfort in the ways by which God kept them going to accomplish His purpose through their lives. When we put our hope in the Lord, we are able to believe that He will accomplish His purpose in and through us also because we know for sure that He is the one who has called us with an eternal purpose. We can then realize that opposition by the enemy of our souls is no hindrance for God to accomplish His purposes in us. God has made use of His choice servants throughout the past in spite of opposition by the enemy. Today we need to put our faith in the Lord of all possibilities and commit our availability to Him so that He can use us to accomplish His will through us.

Dear reader, are you discouraged today because of the fierce opposition that you face in your life and ministry from the enemy of our souls? Do you find road blocks, delays, distractions, Goliaths and darkness on the way? If you put your hope in the never-changing Lord, He will see to it that these hindrances are removed at the right time. He made sure that in spite of difficulties and hindrances, Isaac was born, Joseph was elevated in Egypt, Nehemiah was enabled to complete the wall within 52 days, David became king, Gideon defeated Amalakites, Joshua led God's people to Canaan, water in Cana became wine and Lazarus came back to life. All of these were accomplished only because of faith and hope in the Lord. Hope in the Lord is trust in His power and strength and in the unmistakable determination of His sovereign will to fulfill His promises without the shadow of a doubt. Hope is the greatest driving force that God has planted in our hearts to keep believing on Him to take us through our wilderness journey. We can see all the milestones that He has already planted on our way as we travel with Him at His pace. Not a single syllable of His plan for us will ever be unfulfilled because hindrances created by the enemy on our way are no difficulty for Him to overtake. This Lord is with us today and He urges us to put all our hope and trust in Him. Then He will give us the courage to go forward in His strength to face the eventualities of life to ultimately accomplish His purpose in our lives.

Psalms 43:5 - Why are you so despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.

Thought for Today
Hope in God is the panacea to overcome all the despairing situations that God's children face.

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HE KNOWS AND SEES IT ALL!!

He knows and sees it all!

Verse for Today: Sunday, August 07, 2011
Psalms 31:7 - I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

When we go through deep afflictions and anguish in our soul because of our difficult situations, our hearts seek sympathy and mercy from others. We often wonder if there is any one who knows what we really go through and if someone could do something about it. Many of our situations end up like the experience of Job. There was no one to sympathize with him, and even his best friend and life partner made judgements about his predicaments. Their negative pronouncements seemed to have poured boiled water on to his physical and emotional afflictions. Accusations galore and comfort was not to be found any where. Such responses from nearest and dearest ones often increase the anguish of our souls. But there is a great comfort for God's children in all their afflictions from their Lord who knows it all. Not only that, He sees us and knows our feelings when we suffer physically or emotionally. But He performs several more ministries to meet our needs in such situations. First of all, He strengthens us with His presence where we find joy unspeakable. Secondly He helps us to go through the afflictions and get victory over it all. Thirdly He teaches us the reasons why we go through it all. Fourthly He helps us to learn great lessons in faith during these trying times. Fifthly He helps us to praise Him even in such situations because these have happened with the knowledge of the Lord and that He has permitted it in our lives. Sixthly He increases our faith to trust Him in such situations. He will also helps us to use our afflictions as learning grounds to touch the lives of other believers who go through similar situations. He reassures us that He is with us and that He will never leave us nor forsake us in times of dire need. Thus when our Lord is with us in our situations, He becomes our partner in our afflictions.

Dear friend, if you truly follow the Lord, you will have afflictions and anguish of various kinds. Sometimes these afflictions are caused by the enemy of our souls who manipulates our circumstances. At other times, these might be the consequences of our own actions which are less prudent. We might be allowed to go through tests sent our way by the Lord to help us measure the extent of our faith and to increase our faith to trust Him more. These afflictions might be the chastisement sent our way by our Lord because of our disobedience. But no matter what the reasons behind the afflictions are, the Lord will not forsake us as we go through it. He will not leave us alone, but will be with us to give us the strength to go through it. He will pour out His grace to help us handle the situations. The intensity of the heat of our afflictions would mean greater measure of grace for us to handle it and for us to come out victorious. This was the experience of God' servants like Jacob, Joseph, David, Paul and others who passed through deep afflictions of various kinds. David was in great anguish because any moment in his life, he could have been annihilated by the enemy. But when he learned that his Lord was with him, it helped David to take courage. David learned wonderful lessons as he went through these painful and dreadful situations which helped him to praise God for these experiences. This Lord is with us when we are put in pits, dungeons, furnaces, dens of wild animals, dark valleys, storms, wind and flood of events. He reassures us that His protective hands are around us and that He holds us in the palm of His hands. He sympathizes with us in our situations strengthens us for His glory. Today and every day of our lives, our Lord is with us in all our situations to tell us that He sees everything that we go through and knows it all from its beginning till the end. So let us go forward boldly and courageously with Him even through the valleys of life.

Psalms 103:14 - For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

Thought for Today
The pain that afflictions send our way will be lost in the love that encompasses around us as we are in the Lord's loving hands.

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BUFFER WHEN ATTACKED!!

Buffer when attacked!

Verse for Today: Saturday, August 06, 2011
Psalms 31:20 - You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

God's children are under constant attack by the enemies of their soul. It is no surprise that the world, flesh and Satan, who are our enemies in this world, attack us because we belong to God. These attacks are leveled against us because we live for God by challenging the norms and standards of functioning of the world. The greatest attacks are against those who desire to live righteously as a witness to the name of the Lord. It is the enemies' wish that God's children stumble in their Christian walk. They use temptation as a means to make us fall within our heart. They also use external attacks of intimidation wherever we go. Thus we find false accusations, manipulations, distortions, misinterpretations, misrepresentations, unkind criticisms, gossips and the like against God's children. These are intended to frustrate us and to provoke us to react accordingly. These attacks often cause a lot of damage to God's people. Many servants of God including Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Nehemiah, Paul and others face false allegations and accusations. The enemies used these sharp and powerful weapons against our Lord Jesus while He was physically present in this world. In such situations, God's servants did not respond in kind, but submitted the matter to the Father who hid them in the secret place of His presence. They were sheltered under the wings of the Father. They experienced the shadow of the Almighty to live, and left the consequences of these attacks to the Father. They received the grace to endure these attacks, but didn't retaliate and left it with God who is the righteous judge. Thus they were enabled to continue with their divine mission and the ministry they were engaged in.

Dear reader, perhaps you are under attack at this moment by the enemy of your soul. First of all, let us understand clearly that human beings are not our real enemies, but are used by the real enemy of our souls for shadow warfare with us. So let us not be tempted to react against the instruments used by the enemies, but let us focus on the enemy and his tactics against us. We have to confirm to our hearts that when we are attacked, we are right with God in the areas of attack. Secondly, let us expect attacks, that too from unexpected corners and, try to live a righteous life with the help of the Spirit. Thirdly, when attacked, let us go and hide in the presence of the Lord where you will find comfort and strength to withstand the pressures of the enemy. Fourthly do not let the attacks deter you from serving the Lord as in the case of His servants like Moses, Joseph, Nehemiah, Daniel, Paul and David. Fifthly let us all live under the control of the Spirit so that our behavior will be directed by Him and that we would not be discouraged. Let us also seek the face of the Lord in prayer and meditation of the Word so that the Lord would fill us with His peace in the worst of situations. Each time we are attacked, let us run for shield in the presence of the Lord and ask Him for strength. Let us focus on the grace of the Lord to meet the challenges of all the situations of attack by the enemies. Let us also enjoy the peace He gives us through His Spirit at the time of dire need. When we are attacked, let us also pray for those individuals who are used by the enemies to attack us. Let us not allow our souls to be downcast and be depressed, but let us thank the Lord for the privilege to live in this world as His witnesses.

Psalms 27:5 - For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will guide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

Thought for Today
The presence of God is the greatest buffer for His children against the consequences of attacks by the enemy.

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MORATORIUM ON WORLD'S METHODS!!

Moratorium on world's methods!

Verse for Today: Friday, August 05, 2011

Psalms 28:7 - The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

It is true that God helps humans in so many different ways which are general in nature. But this is different from the specific help that comes to His children in response to their prayers. This response of God to His children is based on their trust in Him. If they do not trust in Him, they might not pray about a matter. But there are people who pray and then do whatever they want to do to accomplish their purposes. These two cannot go hand in hand because if we pray and ask the Lord for help without trust in the power of God to supply the need, our prayer becomes very insincere. But if we have full trust in the Lord to meet our need, no matter what it is, then we should not do any thing that we think is a smart way to accomplish it. When we pray and commit our ways to the Lord with full trust, then there is no scope for us to have anxiety about it. We should not also resort to short cuts, detours or other ways of the world including recommendations to people of influence, bribery, praise or promise of some deed in return. If we resort to these and similar ways, it is very difficult to believe that we have trust in the Lord to provide for our needs in righteous ways. Our trust in the Lord should be demonstrated through the righteous acts that follow with an undefiled conscience and transparent motives. If the Lord finds that we resort to the ways of the world as we also pray, we are not in the will of the Lord. Only when we find that the Lord responds to our trust by fulfilling His perfect will in our lives can we leap for joy and sing hymns of praise to the Lord. Moses did exactly as the Lord commanded him to do and so the Lord blessed his ways. Joseph, Nehemiah or Daniel didn't do anything contrary to the will of God as they trusted Him without reservation. This was why they could experience the Lord as their strength and shield. This Lord is our God who is willing and able to do abundantly for us as we put our total trust in Him.

Dear friend, it is likely that our culture and environment tempt us to resort to ungodly means to accomplish our ends even as we pray to God for help. At the same time, the Spirit of God challenges us to put all our trust in the Lord and wait for Him to accomplish His purpose in us at the right time through the right ways. When there is some delay in accomplishing things, we might get impatient and want to resort to ways which are less than straightforward. This is a situation that we must carefully handle as we keep surrendering our will to the Lord and ask Him to take full control of our lives and circumstances. Our continuous surrender is the continuous sacrifice of our will at the alter as true worship so that our will becomes enthralled in His will and we get ourselves lost in Him. That is when all that happens in our lives become His mighty works of wonder which will enable us to praise Him and sing songs of true gratitude. It is an experience when we do not have any selfish involvement in our lives, but all that happens to us become His acts of benevolence, mercy, grace and compassion for which all credit goes to Him. When He thus works in us, we don't need to be anxious about its consequences, but keep thanking Him for what He does in and through us for His glory. Today let us examine our motives as we pray for God's will in our lives in the light of all that we do to accomplish our goals. May the Lord find us faithful in our trust, prayer and corresponding actions so that our conscience will be clear in our relationship with Him.

Psalms 62:8 - Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

Thought for Today
Trusting in the Lord puts a moratorium on pursuing any other means to accomplish our goals in life.

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