UNBELIEVABLE ANSWERS TO PRAYER!!

Unbelievable Answers to Prayer!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Acts 12:14 – When Rhoda recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening the door and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

We sometimes get flabbergasted as we see the answers to our prayers right in front of our eyes. It is true that we pray in faith, but we are often not sure about our own expectations from God as we pray to Him. When His answers bang on us, we are sometimes wonder struck about the way the answers come and we even forget our own demeanor as we encounter these answers to our pleas. Each of us will have several such stories to recount about the magnificent ways by which God answers our prayers. Martha and Mary would have experienced great wonder when they saw their brother Lazarus standing before them at the mouth of the tomb. The woman of Nain would have been likewise shocked in bewilderment to see her son getting up from the coffin. We see that this was how God answered the prayers of His children. There were always shocking disbelief at each of the miracles Jesus and the apostles performed. It was always the end of the rope for man and so man had to put all his faith on the Lord. It was all faith and not sight that brought forth unbelievable answers to prayer. God’s people in Jerusalem poured their hearts out in the presence of God for the return of Peter and for his release from the clutches of Herod. God proved to them and to others that He is mightier than any king or emperor. When we put our full faith in the Lord, He turns our impossibilities into His possibilities which often catch us unprepared as in the case of Rhoda.

Dear reader, are you faced with a humanly impossible situation in your life? Don’t be dismayed about it because there are so many situations which are impossible for man with all his wisdom, knowledge, technology and money. It is this realization of impossibility that turns us to the God of the Impossible. When we turn to God, He makes us to witness how our impossible situations turn around to great possibilities because of His power and strength. This was how great hindrances like sea or river opened up and turned the bottom into dry ground. Great furnaces become like cool fellowship rooms. Lion’s dens become the safest prayer rooms. Great walls of cities crumble like a deck of cards at the shout of God’s people in His name. Vipers become harmless. Five flat breads feed several thousands with sufficient leftovers for a few more days. Water becomes wine at split seconds. Blinds see in a moment and lame dance instantly. The hardhearted sinners become saints at half a moment. All of these are sufficient for us to plunge into pleasant and shocking surprises. Today we can depend on such a God who brings down gourmet manna from heaven to feed His children in formerly unknown ways. He still opens streams in the desert for Ishmaels to drink water. He still deputes angels to unshackle Peters and to open doors and gates of prison for them. Yes, this God is our God who leads us daily as He meets our intimate needs in totally unexpected ways which send shock waves and bewilderment to our souls. We can depend on this God to do the impossible for us even today as we wait for Him to answer our feeble prayers in faith. Let us prepare ourselves to receive far beyond our expectations from Him to meet our needs.

Psalms 48:14 – For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.

Thought for Today

We will be in for great shock when our feeble faith meets with unbelievable answers to our prayers right in front of our eyes.

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REJECTED, YET ACCEPTED!!

Rejected, yet accepted!

Verse for Today: Monday, January 30, 2012

2 Timothy 1:15 – You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

We are most devastated when our dearest friends and associates desert us in times of trouble. It is all the more painful when we are deserted by those who have been under our ministry. They would have enjoyed a time of intense fellowship with us and benefited from our work for the Lord. We expect them to stand with us when we are engaged in tough spiritual battles and face great opposition. Apostle Paul faced such situations towards the end of his ministry. The believers of the Province of Asia Minor were the product of Paul’s ministry. But when Paul was in times of great need, they all disappeared. From a worldly sense, it would not be easy to identify with a prisoner. But it is very shocking that not even one was there to visit Paul or support him. We wonder if they even prayed for Paul at this time of severe battles. He mentioned the names of two dear people whose desertion would have deeply hurt Paul because of their intimate relationship with Paul. But even at this moment, Paul finds comfort in the Lord. Our Lord Jesus was deserted by all His disciples when He was arrested. They all ran away from Him rather than showing willing to be arrested and tried with Him. Peter volunteered to die with Jesus, but he ran away and even publicly disowned the Lord. Paul was broken hearted when deserted, but learnt the big lesson of enjoying loneliness for the Lord even when others denounce him. He reminds us that we will be often lonely as we walk the Calvary Road in following Jesus. But such experiences of loneliness and desertion should not turn us back from following Him who carried the cross and walked all the way to Calvary all alone.

Dear friend, is your heart broken because all the dear ones deserted you? When you are in trouble because of gospel, are you being isolated and rejected by those who are dear to you in the Lord and those for whom you worked hard in the Word? Remember, the way of the cross is a lonely road which our Lord walked all alone, carrying the old rugged cross which was the embodiment of shame and curse. When He walked that way all alone, He had you and me in His heart. He went through rejection and desertion because He loved us. Today He asks us to demonstrate our love to Him through the expression of our willingness to go through such rejection for Him. Apostle Paul is seen to be hurt by these desertions, but he is not down and out because of it. He kept going in the ministry with confidence in the Lord who gave him company and fellowship. He is now preparing Timothy to be willing to go through such experiences as Timothy would continue in serving the Lord. Paul prayed for all who deserted him and forgave them for ignoring him when he was in trouble. His experience speaks to us loudly about the need to stand with our fellow believers when their words are distorted and testimonies maligned by the enemy of our souls. If we are going through such experiences of loneliness, isolation and rejection by those who are dear to us in the Lord, let us be determined not to be discouraged. Let us pray for their welfare and progress in the faith. Let us comfort ourselves that we are privileged to go through rejection and desertion like Apostle Paul for the sake of our Lord. Let us praise God that He is with us even when the whole world rejects us. As we go all alone through the valleys of life, let us look unto the Lord and be encouraged rather than look around and be discouraged. Our Lord is our travel companion. He will accept us and give us fellowship and friendship even when we are rejected by others and become unwanted.

Hebrews 13:13 – Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp bearing the disgrace He bore.

Thought for Today

As the rejected and isolated children walk alone on Calvary Road, their Lord walks with them and impart comfort and courage in their hearts.

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HEAR, SEE, TOUCH AND TASTE HIM!!

Hear, see, touch and taste Him!

Verse for Today: Sunday, January 29, 2012

1 John 1:1 – That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

What is experienced and felt become very powerful and life-changing for many of us. It is something that we would have heard before, but it now comes for us to see, touch or feel. Apostle John had these experiences along with several other young men and their testimony stands out together very powerfully. They were privileged to get these experiences because they were seekers. Some of them were with John the Baptizer and had heard that Jesus was coming soon. They would have been present when He identified with those who felt the need for public expression of their newly found faith so that none would think that He was superhuman and unapproachable. For about 42 months they experienced Him in various ways. They saw Him in His glorious body after resurrection. John had the privilege of seeing Him as the Lion of Judah at whose sight he would fall flat on the ground as though dead. But He lifts up those who fall at His feet and makes them His witnesses to announce that they had heard, seen and touched Him and had glorious experiences with Him. He led them when He was physically with them, meeting their inner needs. Even though they changed their loyalties to Him on various occasions, He never changed His loyalty to them. Apostle Peter once looked at the waves instead of Him and almost sunk deep in the sea. But later when He saw the Lord, the reality of a chain was not visible to his eyes. He walked out of a prison as if there were no doors or gates because he saw the Lord. Paul saw Him and fell blind at His feet and ever since He only saw the Lord with his eyes sight which changed His life in a revolutionary manner. He was a lion for the enemy of his own soul, but after he saw the Slain Lamb, Paul became like a lamb before its shearers.

Dear reader, have you seen the Lord Jesus with your inner eyes and beheld His true glory? Have you got an experience with Him or are you only part of the experience of someone else? Daniel was in the den, but he saw the Lord instead of the hungry lions and spent his hours in prayer. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego saw the Lord and not the flames and had a fellowship meeting inside the furnace. Noah saw only the Lord and His ark instead of the bewildering flood and kept going until the Lord asked him go out into the dry ground. Nehemiah looked at the Lord who enabled him to refurbish the walls of Jerusalem instead of getting fearful and discouraged by looking at Sanballat, Tobias and Geshem. In the dungeon, Joseph saw opportunities to touch the lives of people for God rather than punishment for crimes he never committed. Even in the midst of great opposition and adversity, our Lord appears to us in His glory for us to see and get encouraged. He comes to us in all our circumstances to show us that He is above all of the difficulties we go through. He reassures us that He will give us victory in all situations if we look unto Him alone. Apostle John had this assurance which he felt was adequately sufficient to meet all the challenges he was faced with. His experience with the Lord kept him going through persecution, isolation, rejection and loneliness. If you are going through such experiences today, the Lord will give you a visitation to reassure you that He is with you and that His presence, power and provisions are adequate to meet all challenges you are faced with. But you must shift your focus from your adverse circumstance and look unto Him for help. Today you have the privilege to touch Him and see His glory through which you will continue to enjoy fellowship with Him.

Job 42:5 – I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You.

Thought for Today

The surrendered set of eyes of a child of God will have the privilege to continue to see the glory of the Lord and experience His peace in all unfavorable circumstances.

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HELP FROM THE OWNER OF THE UNIVERSE!!

Help from the Owner of the universe!

Verse for Today: Saturday, January 28, 2012

Psalms 121:2 – My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

The knowledge about the awesomeness of our God is sufficient for us to confide in Him for all our needs and situations. He is the maker of the entire universe simply by the utterance of His mouth. Such is the release of His power when He opens His mouth. When compared to the mundane needs of His children, these works of creation and sustenance of God are awesome and unimaginable for the human mind. Our God who has created us and reshaped our distorted lives on the cross of Calvary reminds us often about His overwhelming capacity, power, strength, glory and majesty that He wants to demonstrate in our lives on a daily basis. He is there to help us in all our situations. He is available to give us knowledge, wisdom and counsel about how to handle all our situations. He gives us wise counsel about what to do to meet each of our needs. He has asked us to ask Him to help us when He has already prepared a way and has sufficient resources to meet the needs. In other words, He is making us His partners in meeting our needs even when we do not have any inputs in it on our own. He does it all by Himself, but it works through our asking in prayer, our right desires which He helps us to have and His implementation plan that He works in and through us. When we know Him intimately, we are pleasantly surprised by the ways in which He works in and through us for His good pleasure to meet our needs so that He gets all the glory. So He allows our lives to become a platform through which His name is glorified as He meets our needs according to His powerful creativity. Thus our needs are met by Him and His name is glorified in us.

Dear friend, have you recognized your life as a platform through which God exhibits His powerful majesty as He meets your needs according to His riches in glory? As you are His through creation and redemption, He wants you to understand that He expects absolute possession of your life to glorify His name. If you give yourself to Him for His good pleasure, your desires will stem from Him and the resources to meet those needs also will come from Him. Your needs are those that come from your realization of desires and priorities which He plants in your life. He has already prepared all the resources you need to meet these needs and will make them available to you as you seek His help. While you wait for His help to come to you, He keeps reminding you about His awesome power with which He has created everything. Is there any difficulty for such a great God to meet a few mundane needs of His children? His answer is found in His entire creation which is ultimately for His children to live to please Him. He is asking us to look at all that He has created to understand that if He has prepared all of it for us, how would we be poor in our faith to doubt Him and His capacity to provide for all our needs? Look at the way He looks after the grass, wild flowers, the sparrows and the planets? He looks after His children in a far more glorious way if only we leave our lives to Him and trust Him to meet all our needs. Today is yet another day for us to take God at His Word and put all our faith in Him to sustain us and meet all our needs according to the vastness of His fabulous resources. In God’s economy, our needs are far fewer when compared to His vast and inexhaustible resources.

Psalms 33:20 – We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

Thought for Today

The Owner and Sustainer of the vast creation will not leave His beloved children in wants for mundane things in life.

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PITS TO PEDESTALS!!

Pits to pedestals!

Verse for Today: Friday, January 27, 2012

Psalms 103:4 – (He) redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.

It astonishes us that our God knows our pitiful situations well and makes mends for us in unusual ways. He knows when we are going through the experience of pits in life. Sometimes we fall into pits dug for us by the enemy of our souls. At other times we dig our own pits through our thoughtlessness and carelessness. But once we are in a pit, we cannot get out of it by our own effort. These pits are dark and damp. They isolate us from all others and put us out of circulation. We loose all opportunities to be useful in life when we are in pits. Often others are unable to see us in pits and they cannot hear our cries for help because we are hidden from public eyes. But even if others they come around, they would not have the capacity to lift us up. So we are often forsaken by our circumstances to be in pits for long. It is a terribly discouraging experience to be in a pit of habits, addictions, circumstances, situations, events, misinterpretations and character assassinations. Sometimes we are thrown into pits by others out of sheer jealousy. They want to get rid of us because we are an inconvenience for them as it happened to Joseph. At other times we are thrown into pits because others resist our ministries as in the case of Jeremiah. When we are in the pits, we often wonder if there is any hope for us to come out and thus get exasperated. But our Lord knows when we are in pits and He recognizes how helpless we are. He will not forget us in our grief and agony as we are locked up in pits and will come to our rescue if we cry unto Him for help. He will not allow us to be destroyed and kept out of circulation because He has a grand plan for us. So He moves situations and people to come and get us out on His behalf to keep us going. But we come out by wearing the robes of lovingkindness and compassion of the Lord and bear witness to His mercy.

Dear reader, are you going through the experience of pits in your life lately? Have you been out of circulation as a shut in because your circumstances and situations pushed you into a pit? But your Lord will not forsake you in a pit forever. Perhaps you will learn to trust the Lord who is your only hope in a pit. When you call unto Him in your desperation, He will answer you. Perhaps you might be waiting a little too long for rescue. As moments go by, your hope might be diminishing. But your Lord has planned great ministries for you to undertake for Him. He wants you to be an example of people who have obtained His mercy in life to be able to counsel others who are in pits. Perhaps the Lord would want to use you to lift up the sagging spirits of those who are in pits by listening to your testimony of victory in the pit. Rest assured that your Lord will be with you in the pits of life and will minister unto your needs. He will guard you from getting into despair and despondency. He expects you to praise Him because He is with you in the pit and that He has valuable lessons of faith for you even in a pit. Sometimes the Lord sends you to pits to kill the devouring lions as in the case of Benaiah. When you come out at His time, you will be able to bear witness to His faithfulness to you by wearing the robes of His lovingkindness and compassion. Today let us thank Him for His mercy to us when we are in pits and praise Him for His compassion in bringing us out of it for His glory.

Psalms 40:2 – He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

Thought for Today

When the world puts us into a pit, the Lord makes a heaven out of it through His presence and fellowship and pulls us out at the right time for greater ministries.

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ANGUISHES VANISH!!

Anguishes vanish!

Verse for Today: Thursday, January 26, 2012

Luke 24:30 – When Jesus was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.

The hand of God touches His broken hearted children in special ways. It doesn’t matter if they are a large crowd, a small group or even one person, but He reaches out to them to heal their broken hearts. He gives them nearness and fills them with His presence. He takes time to converse with them and answer all their genuine queries. He recognizes their needs and meets those needs. He takes effort to break bread for them whether they are 5,000 or just 2 people. At Emmaus, Jesus took time to heal the two broken hearted disciples. Today He examines our hearts to see our real needs and comes near us to meet those needs. He finds time to have fellowship with those who are hungry for Him like these disciples at Emmaus. But He is more concerned about spiritual hunger which He alone can meet. Jesus walks with the hungry souls and talks to the heavy hearted. He reveals His glory with those you seek to see Him and His greatness. When He speaks to the broken hearted, their hearts burn with the fire of passion for God and His Word. All of these ministries that He extended to the disciples on the Emmaus Road are available to us today if we deeply crave for Him and nothing else in this life. Our deep cravings for Him are known to Him as He examines our hearts, and then He comes to meet these cravings. Once He fills the vacuums in our hearts and heals our broken hearts, our lives will change dramatically as in the case of these disciples who quickly went to find their other brethren to share how they found the resurrected Jesus. No matter what our inner needs are today, Jesus would come to us to meet those needs and give us a new beginning with a new agenda for Him.

Dear reader, if you are going through a time of heartaches and anguishes, Jesus will come near you to heal your broken heart and remove all anguishes. If you are restless, He will touch your life and give you rest and peace. If you have unanswered questions about your situations, you will be able to share it all with Him and He will clarify your concerns. If there is confusion and doubt about your future, He will remove it and give you reassurances and hope. If you are like Thomas with a heart full of doubt, He will not scold you, but will give you opportunity to remove your doubts. He loves to spend special time with you all alone to strengthen your faith so as to remove your apprehensions. If you feel all alone in a garden like Mary Magdalene, He will come to speak to you. If you are afraid of your situation and lock yourself up, He will come to your dark corner to shed light into your heart and take away all fears. Where there is lack of faith, Jesus will come to increase your faith. He will never leave you alone nor forsake you in times of distress. No matter how dreadful your situation is, your Lord will take charge of you and your problems and carry your burdens. He will come to turn your situation of anguishes and misery into one of joy and satisfaction. He will open your inner eyes to see His glory which will shed light into your dark situation and make it bright.

Ephesians 1:18 – I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.

Thought for Today

When we are in God’s presence, we see Jesus in His glory which takes away all our anguishes and heartaches.

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SECURE PASSAGE!!

Secure Passage!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Matthew 8:23 – When (Jesus) got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.
It is good to travel with Jesus in the boat which He chooses to use. He will then take us where He wants us to go and do what He wants us to do. Once we are with Him in the boat, He will decide on the course and the pace of travel. No matter what hindrances surprise us on the way, He will take us to the other side as He has planned and promised. These hindrances of storm, waves and wind are a surprise to us because we expect to have smooth sail when Jesus is with us. We do not desire such storms or other hindrance and delays. But Jesus has planned such experiences for us to learn lessons in trusting Him. He is the same with the storms or without the storms. The delays caused by the storms are part of His grand plan for us so that we would learn to put our absolute trust in Him no matter what comes our way. At the end of the journey we would realize that it was best travelling with Jesus and it was better to go through those storms to learn to trust Him to take us to our destination in spite of the storms. It is the most comforting thing for us to see Jesus in the boat at perfect rest and peace in a volatile environment. Even when the storms come, Jesus is unmoved because no matter how strong the storm, it would not deter Him from going forward to meet His eternal schedules. If we travel with Jesus, such experiences will be ours too. Today’s storms prepare us for greater challenges tomorrow. Jesus is with us today as our invisible travel companion to ease our tensions and anxieties because of the volatility of travelling through the unstable seas of life.

Dear reader, if you are with Him, you don’t need to know where you are going and what will confront you on the way. There might be strong wind, unruly storms and mighty waves to frighten you and take away your confidence. But at such times, it is wonderful to learn the big lesson of trust by watching Jesus at perfect rest and peace. Because He is with you in the boat, there is no scope for any doubt or confusion about your future. If you leave the navigation with Him, He will exercise full control over your life and take you through all the hindrances to the other side of the sea. As storms are not a hindrance for Jesus, they will not be a hindrance to you also. He will not leave you behind to sink in the sea. If you lack confidence and courage, He will strengthen you. He erects a firewall of protection around you to keep you unhurt on the way. As you travel along, He expects you to have simple faith to trust Him to take you forward. If you lack such simple faith, He will give it to you in the right measure at the right time provided you ask Him with a genuine desire. You should also have the willingness to go through various experiences He wants to take you through. Some are taken through fire, others go through flood or lion’s dens and still others are locked up in dungeons. Some go through drought or famine while and others experience storms and waves. But there is a guarantee that He will not let us go alone. He will be with us every step of the way and will take us through all the dark valleys of life to the other side. Today Jesus reassures us of His presence, grace, mercy and protection for us to travel with Him joyfully.

Isaiah 43:2 – When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Thought for Today

Our boat might shake in the storm, but our Lord who is with us in the boat will not be shaken or sunk and we will be secure with Him.

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POWER OF HIS NAME!!

Power of His Name!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, January 24, 2012

1 Samuel 17:45 – David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled.

We are engaged in a spiritual warfare and our armor is spiritual. We fight our grand enemies of world, flesh and Satan in the name of our Lord who is the embodiment of all power, strength, majesty and authority. The mere pronouncement of the name of our Lord is so powerful as to defeat and drive away the enemy who uses physical and psychological weapons to ambush us. He is a roaring lion who threatens to devour us, but when we confront him in the name of our Lord, we will see him disappear. The name of our Lord is a strong tower which the powers of darkness cannot penetrate. The enemy will try to scare us away, but we can gain confidence and courage from the victorious name of our Lord. In His name, demons run away, diseases disappear, disabilities removed, grief turns to joy, light comes in darkness, restlessness turns to sleep and peace, thirst is quenched, conflicts are resolved and needs are met. The enemy often comes to us in insurmountable appearances like Goliath to create fear and discouragement in us and we often accept defeat even without a fight. We retreat and allow the enemy to capture our territories without using the great ammunition of the name of the Lord that is given to us to use. When the name of the Lord is in our hearts and lives, there is no need for us to retreat or give in but to march forward in His name. King David knew this secret weapon and won all His victories through the marvelous and powerful name of the Lord. Gideon won his war against the Midianites in the name of the Lord. Moses spoke most authoritatively to Pharaoh in His name. Elijah and Elisha performed miracles in His name. The prophets ministered in His name. The Apostles did all their ministries in the name of the Lord. Today we have the privilege to fight against our enemies in the name of our Lord. There is a guarantee that if we fight in His name and for the sake of His name, we will surely get victory.

Dear reader, are you facing the enemy of your soul for a showdown in your life? Is he threatening you in your physical and emotional life? Is he using circumstances, situations, people and your own thought life to defeat you in your life of faith? There is no need for you to be afraid because you have the most potent weapon given to you by the Lord which is the name of the Lord. You can approach any enemy at any time with guaranteed results with this weapon. But for you to be able to use the name of the Lord as your sole weapon, you need to be filled with His Spirit and use His name in the power of His Spirit. You should also take care to use His name for His glory and honor and not for your selfish interests. You can use His name as a weapon to fight the enemy in your own life as long as it will lead to His glory. If the enemy comes to fight with you in the form of discouragement, depression, anxiety, doubt, loneliness or confusion, you can ask these to be removed in the name of the Lord. When temptations come and knock at your heart, the best weapon to use is the name of the Lord. When you face gossip, hatred, isolation, rejection and depravity, you can fight these agents of the enemy of your soul with the name of the Lord. The enemy will flee and you will be able to march from victory to victory in the name of your Lord. Today you have the privilege to use the name of the Lord as the potent weapon against all the enemies of your soul and enjoy victory in Jesus.

Psalms 20:1 – May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

Thought for Today
The Name of the Lord gives us victory in battles and refuge when attacked.

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TEST OF TRUE LOVE!!

Test of True Love!

Verse for Today: Monday, January 23, 2012

Romans 8:35 – Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

The true test of love is demonstrated in our response to the situation that we go through. It is easier to express our love in times of comfort, favorable circumstances and when we do not have any thing to loose. The mark of true love is our attitude to the person we love when we have to undergo hardship because of that person. It is also expressed through our attitude to the sufferings we have to experience because of the person we love. The true love of a mother to her child makes her willing to go through any hardship to bring up her child. Her love is expressed in her joy to go through difficulties to bring up that child. Jesus expressed His love to us by His willingness to suffer mockery, despising, ridicule, physical and mental torture and death. He loved us even as He passed through persecution and His love did not diminish. He loved without murmuring and without expecting any thing in return. The love of Jesus demonstrated through all His sufferings demands our love in spite of all the adverse circumstances that we might go through. We are thus privileged to suffer for Him and we declare our open allegiance to Him. Our sufferings are often because we uphold His principles and commands in our lives which are against the ways of the world. We are made to suffer because we belong to Jesus and we stand for Him without apology. Our commitment and bold allegiance to Jesus makes us happy to go through sufferings which do not deter us from following Him. If we truly love Him, none of the difficulties in life would pull us back from His pathways. Our love to Him will make us pay any price to follow Him even if we loose all that we have and are and even when the whole world rejects us. Our joyful willingness to stand for Jesus in spite of unfavorable circumstances is the evidence that we truly love Him.

Dear reader, are you going through unfavorable circumstances in life because of your love for Jesus? Is the world around you reject and despise you because of you are a follower of Christ? Your willingness to continue to take a bold stand for Jesus is the evidence that you are a true follower of Jesus. Your love has to be demonstrated through your willingness to give up things which are dear to you. If you truly love Jesus, you will be willing to loose any thing for Jesus. Then none of the difficulties in life will matter for you and that you will be willing to accept adversities and opposition for Him without murmuring. You will then grow in the desire to give up anything that is yours in this life. As you love Him better everyday, you will consider it a greater privilege to suffer for the sake of Jesus. Instead of a sense of loss because of your faith, you will have a sense of joy to give up any thing for the sake of Jesus who gave up all for you. If we do not express our true love to the Lord Jesus through our joyful sufferings for Him, perhaps we do not know the depth of the love of God demonstrated on the cross of Calvary for us. Today the Lord Jesus wants us to examine to see whether we truly love Him or not. He is challenging us to demonstrate the depth of our love to Him through our life experiences and willingness to become any thing for Him any where and at any time. When He loved us, He gave Himself for us and so when we love Him, we should give ourselves for Him and suffer any thing for His sake. His love suffered for us without murmuring and so our love to Him should also be love which is willing to go through tough and rough experiences for Him. Today let us demonstrate our attitude to our Lord through our willingness to joyfully suffer any thing for Him.

Matthew 5:11 – Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Thought for Today

Our sufferings for Christ are our response of love to His love towards us through His sufferings on the cross.

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FAITH OR REASON?

Faith or reason?

Verse for Today: Sunday, January 22, 2012

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

When it comes to making decisions in life, there are usually two subtle temptations that confront us. One is to partially trust in God and the other is to give greater credibility to our own reasoning ability rather than to lean solely on the Lord’s wisdom. These two temptations have driven a lot of people to utter ruin in life. The lives of Samson, King Saul, Absalom, Elimelech and Esau stand out as they tried to run their lives according to their reasoning power and intelligent thinking. On the other hand, we also have the example of great men of God like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Paul and others who lived contrary to human wisdom and understanding. There were occasions in the lives of people like Abraham and David when they made a few decisions according to their bright mind, but experienced great heartache. They learnt their bitter lessons through misery and agony and had to get back to the pathway of God and trust God with all their heart. Solomon started well, but later allowed human wisdom and cravings devour his life and found his life slipping away from God. We see that any of God’s children trusting God in a haphazard way runs into ruin, misery and heartache. But by the time they learnt their lessons, great opportunities were lost and testimonies ruined. We must also realize that the enemy of our souls is out there to trap us in wrong decisions so as to ruin our lives and testimony. We will face temptations to go the way of reason and intelligence to finally end up in calamity, conflict and confusion. When temptation knocks at our minds to pull us to go on the way of reason and intelligence, we must reject such temptations and stand strong on the pathway of faith and trust Go to take us forward. We should be willing to pay any price to choose the way of the cross rather than the Broadways the world lures us to. We must stand strong against any compromise on the pathway that we tread like Nehemiah and refuse to succumb to pressures to take detour. We are called to tread on the way of the cross and leave the consequences to the Lord.

Dear reader, are you tempted to lean on to your own understanding to run your life? Are there enough reasons to go the way of the world rather than the path of faith? Are your friends and acquaintances advising you to be reasonable and make the most profitable decisions in life? Remember the many that have gone such ways and ended up in ruining their lives and testimony. The lives of Lot, Gehazi, Balaam, Miriam, Korah, Jonah, Ananias and Sapphira are big signboards to forewarn us not to go the way of the world. We must learn lessons from their lives and subtle temptations they fell into. Our Lord expects simple and childlike faith from us. His ways are often unreasonable and unintelligent to the human mind. He wants us to sometimes cross the sea or river not through the traditional methods of bridge or taking detour. He wants us to trust Him to make unusual ways for us to cross over. He makes wine out of ordinary water at the split second rather than go shopping. He heals at an instance. He gives gourmet meals through birds. He pours manna from heaven and multiplies meager bread and fish several fold. His prophet runs faster than the chariots and brings fire from heaven. But He wants us to put our absolute faith in Him in all circumstances because no circumstance is impossible for Him. The Lord is not pleased when we mix His ways with the world’s ways. He doesn’t want us to put our feet in two canoes at the same time and serve God and mammon simultaneously. Today He throws a great challenge at us to take a stand for Him, stay on the pathway of faith and leave the consequences to Him.

Isaiah 30:21 – Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Thought for Today

Faith is submitting to the bright light of divine wisdom rather than groping in the darkness of human reasoning.

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PAINFUL BEAUTIFICATION!!

Painful Beautification!

Verse for Today: Saturday, January 21, 2012

Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in His time.

All of God’s creation is good in itself. All creation has been given a uniqueness and beauty in itself by God. It is not only the extrinsic beauty, but also intrinsic and in its totality. His new creation is also beautiful because whatever God creates will always be beautiful in its stead. We know that God’s first creation was marred because of sin and disobedience by man and so He has been recreating everything submitted to Him through the sacrificial death of His Son on the cross. It is God’s desire and will that all that He recreates is beautiful and so God implants His holiness, power, strength, wholesomeness and perfection in it. He recreates the lives of those who submit themselves to Him through the salvation of their souls. Their lives are a new spiritual creation with the potential to become perfect. They are positionally made perfect in Christ. They are being perfected on a daily basis through the process of sanctification. They will be made perfect when they will be taken away from the presence of sin. But as they live here on earth, God is with them to make their lives beautiful through a series of new beginnings for renewal and revival in their lives. It starts with repentance which is the act of purifying the blemishes we accrue in our souls from our sinful environment. As we continue to submit each and every aspect of our lives to God with repentance, He takes it, remolds it and makes mends for our mistakes and failures. God’s children are thus being beautified through the fingers of the Master Designer for His glory. No matter what mistakes we make, if we confess it totally to the Lord, He will forgive us and will work according to His time frame to make our lives beautiful. When we submit ourselves for His time and work in us, our failures will be turned around to become victory and our lives transformed into His likeness.

Dear friend, are you increasingly aware of the ways by which your life has been marred by sin and worldliness? As you live in an environment of sin and in a sinful body, the enemy of your soul with the help of your flesh will do every thing possible to make you come short of the expectations God has for you. So you need to have a life of continuous repentance. Our consciousness of our shortcomings and failures is not to sink us into frustration, but to elevate us to repentance and renewal. When we give ourselves to the Lord on a continuous basis, He will do the work of continuous renewal of our souls. We will have to be tuned to the Spirit of God for Him to speak to us about our failures and to repent. The Spirit points us towards the areas of our failures and renews the call to repentance. When we truly repent, we confess our part in our failures and do not put the blame on someone or something else. Unless we take the initiative in cleaning up our vessels and allow our Lord to scrub us rough, it would not be possible for our vessels to be renewed. When the Lord renews us, He rubs off the image of the world which has fallen on our lives, and puts His imprint on us which will be reflected in and through our attitude and expressions. This is how He makes us beautiful and it takes time to happen. If we are not patient and willing to go through the process of beautification, it would not be feasible for us to become beautiful. Yes, He will make all things beautiful including our lives. All other things can be made beautiful unilaterally by our Lord, but if we want our lives to be made beautiful, we will have to repent and allow the Lord to scrub us wherever necessary. Today let us commit ourselves to be made beautiful by the Lord, for which let us first and foremost confess our shortcomings and failures to Him. Let us repent and renew our lives and hand it all to the Lord to handle it His way so that we would bear the imprint of Christ and be truly beautiful.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Thought for Today

If we are willing to burn our lives for Jesus, He will make beauty out of our ashes.

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GOD'S DELAY IS INVESTMENT!!

God's delay is investment!

Verse for Today: Friday, January 20, 2012

Exodus 3:2 – There the angel of the Lord appeared to (Moses) in flames of fire from within a bush.

The life of Moses has been one of uncertainties, hopelessness and waste on several occasions. He was born in a hopeless environment and there was on assurance that he would be even live and grow up. But God prepared a way for him to survive the challenges of times and designed one of the most unique opportunities for him to grow up and get best education. Later when he tried to be the savior of his brethren in Egypt, it ended up in disappointment and he had to run for life and live in exile for 40 years with bleak prospects. But God never gave up on him. The past 80 years of his life has been one of different types of training in God’s School of Faith to equip him to lead his people through the desert. When there seemed no scope or hope for him to come up to serving God and His people, God opened a mysterious way. Moses was given a visitation by God in unusual circumstances. God spoke to him about the greater mission that has been designed for him. This appearance was unexpected and unthinkable for Moses, but it was all part of God’s plan for Moses. God showed him the picture of a life that would go through fire but would not burn off as a living sacrifice. But unless Moses was willing to go through the experience of fire, he would not give light and warmth to the dark and cold lives of the people of Israel in Egypt. Moses was forearmed and forewarned about a life that God prepared for him in serving the interests of His people.

Dear reader, are you going through a time of purposelessness, thinking that you are forgotten by God and that He is not opening doors for you to serving Him? Do you feel disillusioned that you are worthless for God? But God has not forgotten you and is waiting for His time to come for Him to use you. In the meanwhile, you are being prepared and matured by the Lord for greater purposes and plans that He has for you. It is impossible that God forgets or abandons you because you are already part of God’s design and plan for your time and beyond. In His marvelous grace, God has a design for your life which He fits well into His grand plan and program for His Kingdom. When the world forgets, discounts and ignores you, God still remembers you. When the world thinks that you are no more usable, God gives you more and more opportunities. When circumstances try to prove to you that you are sidelined by God and when you are intimidated by the feeling of being useless, God is still training and developing you for greater ministries. From being ordinary, you will soon be called into doing greater things for Him. He wants to teach you patience and mature you as a seasoned individual so that you would fit well with His plan and program which will unfold day after day. When circumstances try to discourage you, God will reveal His glory to you in and through unusual circumstances. Remember, you are in the presence of God who lightens up even inanimate objects like a bush to shed light into your heart about how He would use you. Today is yet another day for you to marvel at the tremendous ways by which God proves to you how important you are to Him and how you are a part of His grand design. It is time to crucify all your discouragements and frustrations and once again confess your inadequacy. He will pick you up from the bush and bring you to the limelight for His glory.

Amos 7:15 – But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

Thought for Today

God’s delays are His investment in your life to mature you to fit you into His grand design.

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FULL COVERAGE!!

Full Coverage!

Verse for Today: Thursday, January 19, 2012

Exodus 14:19 – Then the angel of God who had been travelling in front of Israel’s army withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them.

Among the many duties given to angels, one that is prominent is their appointment to travel with God’s children throughout their sojourn. The Lord knows that His children need the escort of His angels to protect them when the enemy of their souls attacks them. We may not be able to see the angel of the Lord travelling with us, but we can experience their divine coverage every moment of our lives. It is amazing to see the angel giving special protection at the right place at the right time. It is equally amazing that human or satanic forces cannot violate the power of the angel who accompanies God’s children. The angel moves around us in such a way that there won’t be any gap in our security even for a moment. The presence of the Lord in the cloudy pillar also moves into our areas of need and provides us with His light, direction and peace in times of attack from the enemy. So when we feel that there is attack coming from behind us and as we become frightened, we can look, see and feel the Lord’s multifaceted protection around us. Our Lord gives so much importance to our protection because He knows the extent of our weakness and vulnerability. We are susceptible to anxiety and fear because we often look at dangerous situations with our physical eyes. But the Lord is challenging us to look at our situations with our spiritual eyes so that we can see the garrison that is around us. The onlookers might think that the powerful Egyptian army would devour us any time soon. But we know that nothing untoward will happen to us because our Lord is encompassing around us and He will not allow the enemy to touch us.

Dear reader, are you frightened because the enemy is advancing you from all sides to annihilate you? Do you experience intimidating thoughts and anxious moments because you expect the imminent attack from the enemy? Have you lost your peace and sleep because of these negative thoughts and are you plunged into disillusionment? But there is no need for you to be anxious and fearful about your situation. The enemy will always come towards you from all corners to attack and defeat you. But your Lord who is with you is far greater than the enemy. His angels are also around you and they move around you to resist all attacks. The presence of the Lord is also with you in power and strength. You are well insulated by the power of God which is spread around you and He covers you under His shadow. The One who shut the mouths of lions, fire, flood, storms and wolves is with you. His power to subdue emperors and armies has been evident. He will not allow you to be touched by the enemy through people and circumstances. When you experience the presence of the Lord around you, the enemy will be out of sight for you. So even if Goliath or Philistine army comes to attack you, there is no need for you to be anxious and loose your peace. The Lord has already prepared a way for your deliverance from the tactics of the enemy. Lord will protect you and give you the strength to overcome the negative emotions which emerge as a response to what you might see in front of your eyes. But if you open your inner eyes, you will be able to see the provisions made for you by your Lord. He will not allow His precious children to suffer under the tyranny of His enemies. You have the privilege to fix your spiritual eyes on the Lord and His promises. He will give you the strength to hold on to these promises and relax and rest in His presence.

Psalms 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and (the Lord) delivers them.

Thought for Today

We are in for big surprise when we see God’s design for our protection, provision and prospects.

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FAITH IN ACTION!!

Faith in action!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Joshua 3:15 – Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.

We enjoy God’s blessings as we appropriate it by faith. If we take steps of faith forward, we will see that all hindrances to His blessings will give way for us to go forward. No matter what difficulty arises in front of us, we must go forward by faith trusting God to do the rest. When God says that we must take steps of faith, it is our responsibility to take those steps forward leaving the result to Him. Only when Elijah goes to the brook of Cherith that he would find the ravens with bread and meat. If only he goes to Zarephath, would he find a widow who was designated by the Lord to feed him! For the disciples to prepare for the Passover, it was necessary that they go to the town as commanded by the Lord. It was important for the lepers to go to the priest so that they would find healing. If only the stone jars are first filled with water and a sample taken to the head of feast that they would find the miracle of vine from water. For Peter to get a very large catch of fish, he had to cast the net to the right side of the boat. Such actions of faith often prelude the miracles God performs in the life of His people. It was important that the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to walk to the edge of the water in Jordan for the river to be divided. They had to go forward by faith as if there was no river in front of them. If they don’t walk forward, their faith will be not seen in action. If they remain on the river bank, they would not be exercising their faith in the Lord. They needed courage to believe that if they move forward they would step on dry ground. They had to put all their faith in the Lord and do what He has asked them to do, leaving the result to Him. Such courage comes from their faith in the Lord who has commanded them to go forward. In all our walks of faith today, we are challenged to go forward as commanded by the Lord to enable us to see His pathways through overflowing rivers and roaring oceans.

Dear friend, are you challenged by intimidating obstructions on your pathways? Is there pressure on you to stop at the water’s edge or take a detour? Are you afraid of the consequences of going forward? Remember, your Lord has commanded you to go forward without regard to consequences. He has already prepared your way forward. All you have to do is to put your total faith in Him and leave the results with Him. It was at His command that the people of God crossed the Red Sea about 40 years back. They could look back to see the series of miracles He has brought them through over the years. None of His promises has ever been unfulfilled. If He is able to bring them to the edge of water at Jordan, there would be no question about His capacity to take them across. He will not bring them all the way to the banks of River Jordan and leave them there or sink them in the river. He will not go back on His promises. Crossing the obstructions of rivers or mountains depend on our willingness to take steps of faith because the Lord has promised to take us forward. But if we do not go forward, we will not witness His promise in action. Today let us take God at His Word and go forward irrespective of hindrances. No matter who or what is hindering us to reach the level of spiritual blessings that are in store for us, we should disregard it all and go further. Let us obey the Lord out of our love, loyalty and commitment to Him and leave the consequences of our obedience to Him.

2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Thought for Today

We enjoy far less spiritual blessings from the Lord than what He wants to give us because of our unwilling to exercise faith in Him to go forward and appropriate it.

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WANTED: EMPTY, BROKEN VESSELS!!

Wanted: Empty, Broken vessels!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

2 Corinthians 12:9b – Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

It is human tendency to speak more and more often about their strengths and merits rather than their weaknesses and failures. Humans often boast about their achievements and smartness and try to cover up their losses and mistakes. They also try to put blame for their failures on extraneous forces like other people and situations. But if we are in Christ, our attitude towards our weaknesses and failures will be different. We will then see ourselves as weak and the Lord as strong in us. As Apostle Paul, we would then be willing to admit our weaknesses and failures and rap these failures and keep it at the feet of Jesus. When we admit our emptiness and absolute weakness in accomplishing any thing for the Lord, our Lord will put His strength in us and use us for His glory. Admitting our emptiness is not in itself weakness, but it is strength in our character to admit our true state. Even if we claim and boast about our smartness, it is weak in itself and utterly meaningless before God. When we claim to be efficient and effective in ourselves, we are in effect glorifying our self. We are called upon to crucify our fleshly claims, declare them as dead and bury them at the foot of the cross. In all that we say or do, we must be able to openly admit that it is the strength of the Lord which works in us and not our own natural abilities. Whoever tried it in the way of the world is found to be ultimately a failure as seen in human life day after day. We see them as great green trees, but after some time, they are not seen there because they do not have any strength in themselves.

Dear reader, are you feeling weak and empty in your heart? Do you feel embarrassed when others ridicule you because of failures in life? Does it crush your emotions when others write you off as a failure? Remember, this was how your Lord was when He was on this earth. He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was like a worm and a feeble lamb before its shearers. Yet, His life was proved to be the embodiment of great strength and power. His power is available to all who are willing to admit their weaknesses and failures and submit their broken lives to Him. If only we admit our weakness before Him that He will fill us with His power. Those who are strong and powerful in their own stead do not need any strengthening by the Lord. David was so week as to run around like a dog for life, but God raised him up to king. Jeremiah was so weak that the rebellious people tossed him around. But his life was a reservoir of the power of God as he spoke the Word of the Lord. Abel was weak and could easily be murdered, but he still speaks loudly about the power of God even as he became a martyr. Moses was a fearful and weak man who knew only how to tend sheep in a desert, but the Lord strengthened him to lead about 2 million people through a desert for 40 years. The weak Moses could face the most powerful emperor of that time fearlessly. Elijah and John the Baptizer could face emperors and religious leaders without fear. The fearful Gideon was used by God to defeat the powerful Midianites. Peter the coward was able to preach to a large crowd and lead 3,000 to the Kingdom of God. Today our Lord is looking for broken and empty people who are willing to admit their nothingness to Him so that He can pour His power into them and use them to accomplish His purpose. So dear reader, there is no need for you to wallow over your weaknesses and lack of resourcefulness, but to simply confess your emptiness before God. Surrender yourself to full obedience and the Lord will use you as He used Elijah, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Paul.

Galatians 6:14 – May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!

Thought for Today

God will reshape the broken and contrite lives of His children and empower them for His service.

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HELP IN TESTS!!

Help in tests!

Verse for Today: Monday, January 16, 2012

1 Corinthians 10:13b – And God is faithful; He will not let you be tested beyond what you can bear. But when you are tested, He will also provide a way out so that you will be able to endure it.

Faithfulness is a fundamental character of God which is reflected in all that He does. Even when we fail Him, God will not fail us, but will show His character of faithfulness in taking us forward in our sojourn in compassion and grace. He forgives us when we confess and repent of our sins and shortcomings. He measures our level of faith and the extent of our growth in faith by allowing us to go through certain experiences called tests. He watches us keenly to see how we handle these situations. These tests are opportunities for us to learn about God’s faithfulness and how we cope with the challenges in life during these tests. Sometimes tests look like temptations because tests pose us with an opportunity to make a choice of glorifying God or fulfilling our selfish desires. God always expects us to make choices according to His will and on the basis of our faith in Him to carry us forward. Some tests are beyond our existing capacity to handle and so He gives us special strength to go through it. Daniel was given the strength to stay overnight with a bunch of hungry lions. God was faithful in allowing him to go through this test without wavering. But then it was Daniel’s responsibility to trust God’s faithfulness to give him the capacity to endure it. The Hebrew youth who were thrown in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar experienced the grace and faithfulness of God to endure it and come out victorious. But tests pose risks and dangers because sometimes the grace given to us as we go through the tests would be to be losers in the sight of the world. But it then becomes an opportunity for us to be ready to give up all that we are and have for the Lord out of our love for Him.

Dear reader, are you going through some severe tests of faith in you walk with the Lord? These tests are not to trouble you or weaken you, but opportunities to evaluate the level of your faith and to see how much you are growing in faith. God gives us grace to go through tests and endure the experience no matter how bitter these are. When we come out of these tests victoriously, God prepares us for more intense tests to qualify us for greater spiritual blessings in our lives. But He wants us to go through these tests only on the basis of His grace and strength and not on our human capacity. David had to go through several tests before He qualified to become king. Joseph had to go through severe tests before his dreams were accomplished. Moses had tests galore as he led the people of Israel to Canaan. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also were confronted with tests of various kinds as they were prepared to pioneer a nation for God. During the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus, He took His disciples through a series of tests including storms, waves, lack of food, lack of money to pay tax, confronting demons, handling sickness, deprivation of sleep and rest, facing angry mob, criticisms of religious fanatics, temptation to forsake the Lord, running away from Him when He was arrested and unbelief in His resurrection. Through it all, the Lord built them up in faith to enable them to build strong foundation for His church. He gives the ability to endure the pain and anguish of the tests and takes us through it to learn great lessons in following Him and living for His glory. He will not let us go through it all alone, but will come with us and take us through it by His hands. No matter what tests you are going through today, your Lord is with you to strengthen your life and testimony for Him.

Hebrews 2:18 – For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Thought for Today

As we go through the tests of faith, the Lord gives us His strength to handle it gracefully and learn lessons to go further in our Christian life.

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RESIST DISCOURAGEMENT!!

Resist discouragement!

Verse for Today: Sunday, January 15, 2012

Nehemiah 4:1 – When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews.

When we live for the Lord and serve Him, the enemy of our souls will become very active and try to hinder our life and work for the Lord. The enemy often uses circumstances and people to hinder our life and ministry. When the enemy shows anger and start ridiculing us, we get intimidated in our souls and find it difficult to face his challenges and opposition. Our immediate temptation would be to plunge into discouragement and finally to retreat. Our spiritual life in families, schools, work place or neighborhood will all be thus affected. It will also affect our ministries in the church or any of our outreach activities. No matter what we attempt for the Lord, the enemy will use weapons of discouragement to detract us. Mockery is a potent psychological weapon which he often uses to depress us. He will also try to terrorize us through tantrums of various types. It is likely that in times like these, our dearest and nearest associates might not stand with us as experienced by David and Paul. Thus when we get rejected and isolated, we feel lonely and loose our confidence to keep going. Our zeal is thus affected and we slowly withdraw from the front line. We must remember that these tactics of discouragement, isolation and rejection are aimed at all who genuinely walk with the Lord and especially at key people in the Christian ministry. The enemy knows that if he can challenge and depress the front line soldiers, others will easily get discouraged and detracted. The experience of Nehemiah, David and Paul speak loudly to us to beware of such attacks and be prepared to face such challenges. We must reaffirm our commitment to our Lord and His calling to keep going by disregarding the mockery and despising from the enemy. We must look into the future through the eyes of the Lord and see what He has planned for us to do for Him and follow those pathways relentlessly. We must follow the Lord in His footsteps and take care not to succumb to discouragement by the terrorizing and mocking attacks of the enemy. We should meditate on our beloved Lord who went through such experiences and draw courage from Him as we face the challenges of the enemy.

Dear friend, are you facing the intimidating tactics of the enemy exhibited through terrorizing behavior and mockery? Are there discouragements around which depress you and tempt you to retreat from going forward? Remember, if you retreat, others who consider you as a role model would also be discouraged, and so for their sake you must go forward. If you go back, your Lord would be much saddened because He expects your forward march to be a response to His march towards Calvary for you disregarding all the opposition. Had David gone back because of the attacks of King Saul and the neighboring countries, he would have never ruled Israel as king. Had Joseph retreated, he would not have become the Prime Minister of Egypt. A discouraged and retreated Nehemiah would have left the walls of Jerusalem in heaps of rubble. You must realize that any person who ever genuinely follows the Lord Jesus would face opposition. The enemy of Jesus would oppose any one who serves Jesus wholeheartedly. It is only natural that the enemy of Jesus would attack and discourage any of His followers from going forward. But we need to renew our commitment to the Lord and face the enemy in the name of our Lord with the help of the full armor of God. We must go forward in spite of opposition and accomplish the tasks that the Lord wants us to attempt for Him who secured our salvation in spite of opposition, mockery, despising and intimidation. Today He is with us to strengthen and encourage us as we face the enemy who wants to challenge us in our walk with the Lord.

Psalms 27:3 – Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.

Thought for Today

Those who fix their eyes on Jesus would successfully fight discouragement and march forward.

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NEARNESS THAT REPELS FEAR!!

Nearness that repels fear!

Verse for Today: Saturday, January 14, 2012

Lamentations 3:57 – You came near when I called You; and You said, “Do not fear.”

Today we are reminded by the Spirit of God that there is always a divine response when we cry unto God. His responses are always comforting and strengthening. He comes to us to dispel our fears and anxieties. He knows why we cry and has an answer to our cries. He gives us His nearness when our hearts are filled with anguish and frustrations. When He comes to us, He handles our most pressing problem of fear in our hearts first and then only moves on to different areas in our situations. He realizes how heavy our hearts are and how deeply we are afraid of our situations. His heart communicates with us in soft and soothing voice to dispel our apprehensions and anxieties. When He tells us not to be afraid, it means that He will handle all aspects of our lives which make us afraid. He guarantees to guard us against all consequences of the events which stand out in our situation to intimidate us. But in order to experience Him in our situations, we must open our eyes of understanding and our inner ears to listen to the voice of the Lord. When He asks us not to be afraid, all we have to do is to submit our hearts and minds to Him to fill us with His peace, power and strength. His presence will destroy all the darts of doubts, confusions and fears the enemy sends out to penetrate our hearts to make us loose confidence in life.

Dear reader, are you going through a time of intimidation from your situations and the people around you to put you in a pit or dungeon of false accusations, misrepresentations, loss or failure? Does the darkness in the pit or dungeon threaten you further and fill your heart with fear and anxiety? It is likely that the enemy comes to tell you that there is no hope for you. But remember, the enemy of your soul is a liar and the father of all lies. He knows fully well that your Lord is with you. So the only thing he can do is to sow the seeds of doubt, fear and anxiety in you and take away your hope and confidence in the Lord. Perhaps it is not beyond reason to expect any deliverance from your present hopeless situation. But when the Lord is in your situations, there is always hope, confidence and peace. Restlessness and sleeplessness will disappear when He is near. His Spirit gives us freedom from all entangling emotions. In Babylon, the Hebrew youth were gripped with the fearlessness from God while they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel was able to weather away all negative emotions of a dark night which he had to spend with hungry lions. Peter enjoyed sound sleep the night before he was expected to face execution because the presence of the Lord was with him. Joseph and Jeremiah experienced the peace which passes understanding in the pit. Paul and Silas had the joy of the Lord in bondage in the dungeon which ended up in singing songs in the night. Today when we cry out of anguish and misery because of our besieging situations, our Lord comes near us to take away our fears and anxieties and fill our hearts with confidence and courage to face our situations. Our Lord is present in our circumstances to straighten out things for us. Others will fail us in our hours of greatest need because they have human limitations, but our Lord has immeasurable resources to meet the challenges of our situations. Let us continue to cry unto Him and hand our fears over to Him to handle so that we can be free and joyful.

Psalms 34:6 – This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

Thought for Today

Just as a father has compassion over a child who cries unto him in dire situations, our Lord shows mercy to us by listening to our cries, coming near to us and driving out all our fears.

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PERFECT WAY, WORD AND SHIELD!!

Perfect Way, Word and Shield!

Verse for Today: Friday, January 13, 2012

Psalms 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.

The world disappoints all who walk its ways which are a series of unexpected events filled with loss, failure, defeat, deception and sorrow. Travelers are forced to constantly engage in repairing their pathways to overcome these sad predicaments. Still they do not enjoy stability, certainty and net gain. People fight battles all along in life and get bruised in their emotions and subsequently in their bodies and end up in swallowing the bitter pills the medical systems prescribe. Each time an expert is approached, there are empty and imperfect promises of uncertain future. But the prescriptions provided by God for man are flawless and perfect. His methods are based on His perfect wisdom and understanding about man’s real problems which the world’s technology diagnose. The most basic problem man faces is his broken relationship with God. This relationship can be re-established only on the basis of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Once man recovers his relationship with God by trusting Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord, he is on a new way which is the perfect way of the Lord. On this new way, man is a sojourner to his eternal home on the basis of the flawless and perfect word of the Lord. Each step of the sojourner is built on the promises of God. But as he marches on, the enemy of our souls sends out his fiery and poisonous darts to destroy his life and testimony. But he is under the protection and surveillance of the Lord and kept safe under His shield. The Lord Himself is the sojourner’s shield in whom there is perfect peace, joy and rest in all circumstances and situations. But the safety and protection can be appropriated if only God’s children continue to dwell in His presence.

Dear friend, are you experiencing life as a pilgrimage? A pilgrim is focused on a goal and a destination in life and never compromises on something that is seen on the way. As you walk along the pathways of life, are you sure that you are walking with Jesus and truly following Him? Walking with Jesus has to be on the basis of His teachings and clinging on to His promises to supply all your needs. His way is the only perfect way and all other ways are like sinking sand which will take you off the right track. He wants you to choose the way of the cross deliberately and walk in it because it is the way to Calvary. The way of the cross is the only right and perfect way to receive His promises. His promise is the crown of recognition that He gives you for your faithfulness in your walk. As you walk after the Lord Jesus in His footsteps, you must depend totally on His promises which are flawless. No matter what you face on the way, He will be your shield to protect you from the attacks of the enemy of your soul through people and circumstances which are manipulated by him. If you dwell with Him, you will find true hope as did Andrew and John. If you are dejected on your trip to Emmaus, He will walk and talk with you and open your eyes to see His glory. If you dwell with Him in the prison cells or broken cisterns the world creates for you, the word of the Lord will be illuminated through you to other weary souls. When you are rejected and isolated, the Lord will open your eyes to see His glory as John saw in Patmos. You will be shielded by Him as Moses, David, Gideon, Elijah, Joshua and Peter were shielded. Today you are challenged to walk on the Calvary Road and enjoy the protection, provision and peace of God to enjoy on your pilgrimage.

Psalms 33:20 – We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

Thought for Today

When we walk with the Lord on His ways, we can experience Him as our shield in all our troubles.

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LIGHT FOR RIGHT TRACK!!

Light for Right Track!

Verse for Today: Thursday, January 12, 2012

Psalms 18:28 – You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

The awareness of a dark world in which we live demands God’s light to shine upon our pathways. But there are blind people who live in an utterly dark environment and sadly do not know what light is all about. They move around only if their hands are held by someone. This dark world wants to lead people into danger and catastrophe and to destroy their lives. The world gives people pseudo light which is limited to technology and modern methods of learning which makes people more and more confused. But the heart of a child of God dwells on the light which God sheds on his or her ways to help move forward in this dark world. This light comes from the Word of God which is illuminated in their hearts through His Spirit. When we are in the presence of God, we will see light and direction in our lives to keep going even when darkness prevails everywhere. When we are led by Jesus who is the light of the world, He enables us to move forward in His light. He has opened our spiritual eyes to see Him and His light by faith. So there is no need for us to grope in the darkness that is around us, but to look unto Jesus who is the light. We can look at our dark circumstances through Jesus who is with us to give us direction. So there is no room for a child of God to be confused about their tomorrows.

Dear friend, are you experiencing darkness around you in certain areas of your life where you need to make decisions and move forward? Are the pseudo lights of this world confusing you about the path of the Lord? Jesus, the light of the world, has come to your life to remove darkness from all your life situations. This light is shed abroad in your hearts and is a divine investment as a guiding principle in life. So when the enemy tries to confuse and detract you, there is no need for you to loose way or grope around for direction. You don’t need to consult modern technology or wisdom of the world to lead you. We have warning signs about people who got confused because they kept their focus away from the Lord who showed them the way. Jonah got away from the light given to him by the Lord. Abraham, Isaac, Judah, Balaam, Samson, David, Solomon, Gehazi and Demas blink red light and warn us. They moved away from the directions given to them by the Lord and had to pay a heavy price in life for digressing and taking detours from God’s pathways. But we also see God’s men like Enoch, Joseph, Daniel and Paul who kept themselves on the right track relentlessly and saw the light of God in all that they did. We must realize that the enemy of our souls is out there to cast a shadow on our testimony and distract us to take detours from God’s pathways. So we must look unto Jesus for light each step of the way with continuous surrender of our will to Him and His ways only and be willing to pay a price to stay on the right track. There are times when our own ideas and plans might sound more reasonable and intelligent for us, but these need not be the way of the Lord. Satan always tries to confuse and clutter our ways through our natural instincts. Sometimes he mystifies us with smart ideas and at other times blinds our eyes with position, prestige, prominence and possessions to lure us away from divine track. Let us today look unto the Lord to help us walk the right pathway. Remember, God never confuses His children, but directs them in the right path whereas it is the enemy of our souls who does everything possible to create darkness on our tracks to make us digress from God’s will. Let us apply salve from Heaven to our eyes to see light for our pathways through the light of our Lord and move towards our destination.

Psalms 36: 9 – For with you is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

Thought for Today

In order to see the Lord’s track properly, let us apply heavenly salve in our spiritual eyes.

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DISASTERS TO DISTINCTION!!

Disasters to distinction!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Psalms 18:18 – They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.

God’s children are attacked by the enemy in their weakest moments. When we are confronted by intimidating situations and events, our enemy creates more confusion, makes us weaker and helpless and pushes us to hopelessness. We are often attacked in the physical, emotional and spiritual realms in our weakest moments. When there was a famine in Canaan, Abraham was tempted to go down to Egypt. Joseph was attacked one after the other, made helpless and was finally shut in a dungeon. Elimelech and family had temptation to go down to Moab when they went through a famine. When David was going through difficulties at home, his son Absalom tried to capture the kingdom from him and many of David’s followers deserted him. Peter fell into the trap of forsaking the Lord when he was gripped with fear following the arrest and trial of Jesus. He was tempted to backslide because of hopelessness and depression. When Paul was attacked by the religious and political leaders, his own brothers in the faith forsook him. But in all these cases, the Lord was the support of His people. He interfered and rescued His children from their disaster. The world and Satan would have written God’s children off thinking that there was no hope left for them. The circumstances would have shouted loudly and announced a verdict of hopelessness for them. But God never forsook His children. He was with them and helped them out of the predicaments they were in. He strengthened them in their faith and corrected them in their ways. He interfered in their situations and turned events around to protect them. The Lord personally appeared to some of them, as in the case of Paul and John, to encourage and strengthen them. Today we are encouraged to trust in our Lord who will be our support when all other support wanes away.

Dear reader, does your situation today give you the impression that you are heading towards disaster? Is your horizon dark and cloudy? Are you faced with discouragement from all around? Is your environment depressing and pushing you to wonder if there was any hope for you? Remember, you are not alone in your present situation. Your Lord is with you to support and strengthen you. Even though you walk through the most depressing situations, your Lord will not let you go down to the depth. He will lift you up and hold you in His hands. He knows what physical, emotional and spiritual support you need during these trying times and will supply all needs in the right measure. He will enable you to hold on to His promises. When the enemy pulls your legs, the Lord will place your feet on solid grounds. When your friends forsake us, the Lord will come to give you company. He went visiting Elijah, Peter, Paul and John in their seeming hopeless situations and lifted up their sagging spirits. He illuminated their hearts with hope. The Lord knows what you are going through today and will give you the right support at the right time in the right measure. Lion’s den was a platform for promotion for Daniel. Prison was the platform for elevation for Joseph to the position of Prime Minister. Dungeon was the platform for writing the Scriptures down for Paul. The shade of the broom tree was the platform for re-commissioning Elijah for greater ministries. The prison was preparation time for Peter to find John Mark which ended up in the writing of a Gospel. Patmos was the arena for the revelation of Jesus Christ in His glory for the isolated John. So dear reader, please do not give up hope. Your Lord is working for you behind the scene. He will extend relentless support for you because you are part of His grand plan. No matter who walks out on you, the Lord will continue to support and strengthen you. Let your life be a platform of praise for who He is to you in times of adversity, disaster, suppression, oppression, rejection and isolation.

2 Timothy 4:16-17 – At my first defence, no-one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. …But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.

Thought for Today

The Lord will strengthen and support His children when forsaken by all others and sunk deep in disaster and distress.

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