VICTORY BY FAITH!!

Victory by faith!

Verse for Today: Thursday, April 25, 2013

Exodus 14:14 - The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.  

Life seems to be a platform for perennial warfare among various forces. The world is full of fights and intimidation in the quest for winning at any cost. Satan with his agents of flesh and the world fights God’s children as part of his warfare against God. God’s children have warfare against their own flesh as well as against Satan and the world. Christian life is a series of battles where our enemy tries to ruin our life of faith. We are often terrified by the fierce battle in which the enemy uses subtle and cunning tactics and weapons against us. But we are comforted today because our Lord fights our battles for us. He sends His message of reassurance to His children time and again that He will lead us from victory to victory. Whenever God delivers His children out of bondage and hindrances, the enemy gets more and more agitated. So he increases the intensity of his attacks on us and uses newer tactics against us. He uses emotional weapons like fear, hopelessness, loneliness, anxiety, confusion and distress on the one side and confuses our situations on the other. He will bring in situations like red seas, thirst, hunger, Jordan and armies of the underworld to hinder our pathways. Simultaneously he will try to close in from behind with his a very powerful army of demons. Thus he creates a situation of hopelessness and fear in our minds and tempts us to plunge into grumbling. But God’s message of confidence comes to reassure us that we can face our enemies boldly because He fights our battles. He enables us to trust in His mighty power and rest in His promises. He gives us His armor to wear which will keep us secure during our battles. He uses us as weapons in His hands to fight the enemy. He leads us from victory to victory day by day as we submit our situations to Him.  

Dear friend, are you being terrorized by the enemy through bewildering circumstances? Are you losing courage and confidence to go forward for fear of the enemy’s subtleties?  Remember, your Lord has gone before you to ward off the hindrances of fear and anxiety from your pathway. The enemy will not overpower you because the Lord fights for you. He invites you to confide in Him and rest in His promises. Your enemy will never directly fight with God, but will use you as a proxy and try to defeat you so that he can cause embarrassment to God’s plans for you. But God wants to strengthen your faith today and gives you the assurance that you can find rest and peace in the midst of the battles in life. He is in control of your circumstances and will remove all barriers and hindrances for you to go forward. He has promised to take you to your destination through victory day by day. None of His promises will go void and it will all be accomplished at the right time. When the enemy uses hindrance to cause discouragement and phobia, God wants you to consider it as a time of testing of your faith. The entire heavenly hosts fight for you. God will not permit one of His precious children to be destroyed by the enemy. Today you are invited to go to His presence and appropriate victory, peace and rest even when you face the enemy with all his subtleties. You need to be still and silent, rather than cry out of fear, and march on with faith and trust in the Lord and in His mighty power. Your battle belongs to your Lord who will lead you to victory which you can claim by faith today and live in peace and rest.  

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

Thought for Today

God’s children dwell in peace and rest amidst the battle cry of the enemy because their God fights their battles.

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LOOK OF FAITH!!

Look of faith!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Exodus 13:21 - By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.  

God could have just commanded a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire to guide the Israelites. Instead God himself traveled in the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way. He gave them personal direction and led them like a parent guides children. Our God guides us as individuals, families and churches. He has guideposts for us to look up and see. He energizes us through His Spirit so that our feet would have the strength to keep walking on His pathways.  But it is important that we look up to see the guideposts on which our Lord travels ahead of us. Our focus should always be heaven so that we would not lose track. Our up-look is the sure way not to sidetrack or take detours from God’s will. But there are temptations and attractions of various kinds to deceive us to look around rather than look up to God for direction. The materialism and the technology of the world would challenge us to walk by sight and terrify us if we do not fall for it. But our walk is one of faith and trust in our Lord and His Word. Many who have gone before us fell into the deception of the enemy and have taken detours to their ruin. Let us follow the example of Enoch who walked with God for three hundred years and enjoyed continuous fellowship. The Lord has given us His Word and Spirit as our great guides to show us the way and to equip us to walk in it. We need to be sensitive to His Word and Spirit all through our journey lest we fall apart or go astray.

Dear friend, are you facing temptation to follow your instincts and feelings to go in ways which seem right to you and would satisfy your earthly cravings? But unless it is authenticated by God’s Spirit and His Word, it just cannot be the right way. Your God knows that the enemy will try to plant doubt and confusion in your heart about which way to turn to. So He has planted His Word in your heart and has appointed His Spirit to dwell with you permanently. Jesus Christ is the only way for us to enter into divine pathway where He walks with us daily to help us every step of the way. So we need to be sensitive to His Word and Spirit and obey His instructions to be on the right track. If we disregard the Word, the world’s wisdom would slowly influence us. If we do not allow the Spirit to control us, there will be other spirits which will slowly exert influence on us to go on the wrong pathways. God shows us His ways in the dark and lonely hours of our lives. The Word of God has instructions for each and every aspect of our earthly life. Our God will not leave us alone without direction and guidance. He is concerned about us and our walk. He offers to walk with us if we let Him. He always goes before us in preparing the way so that we can go forward by faith to reach our destination. There is no need for us to fret over our future because the Lord has already gone before us. He holds our hands as we walk with Him and takes us forward and leads us to our destination. He guarantees us that our walk with Him will be joyful and fulfilling. If we look up to His traffic posts by faith, we will be able to walk without fear and anxiety and enjoy our journey. 

Psalms 107:7 - He led them also by a straight way to a city where they could settle. 

Thought for Today

When we look up by faith and walk, we will see Jesus walking in front of us.

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OBEDIENT FAITH!!

Obedient faith!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Luke 5:5 - Simon answered and said: "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing; but I will do as You say and let down the net".  

If Jesus is our Master, we are bound to heed to His commands in all that we do. No matter how many attempts we make, unless we our efforts are based on the Master’s commands, we will not get blessings according to His measure. Unless we cast our nets at the spot the Master shows us, we would end up getting frustrated and exhausted without results. Our expertise, experience and impulses will fail us if we fail the Lord. Peter and his co-disciples found that they could not get results in spite of commendable expertise in fishing, best efforts, good intentions and high motivation. When their efforts were futile, the Lord used their failure to show them that without Him they can do nothing. So if we get some results, we must discern whether it comes from the Lord or not. It is a fact that some times the world system and satanic forces give people results to prove to us that we can get what we want through our own efforts. This is a blatant deception of our enemy. When we face failure, we are often unwilling to admit it to the Lord and seek His wise counsel. We try to find situational justifications about our failures rather than admitting our spiritual shortsightedness. But genuine trust in the Lord will lead us to go to Him and admit our failures and wait for Him to speak. When the Lord asks us to try again according to His plan, we should go forward humbly and fearfully and in full obedience. Then we will find the kind of results that the Lord wants us to have. What comes out of the Lord’s instructions will bring glory to Him whereas what comes from our own efforts will lead to worldly recognition and pride. Nebuchadnezzar felt that all that he achieved were from his own efforts and took great pride in his smartness rather than humbling himself before God. Such pride ends up in destruction.  

Dear friend, have you been facing failures in your efforts? Have your repeated efforts and failures made you frustrated and exhausted? Do you wonder why your attempts have not brought forth expected results? Are you searching for reasons why your expertise and experience are in futile? It is time to understand that worldly wisdom, expertise and experience are no match for God’s wisdom and instructions. Peter was willing to confess his failures to the Lord and waited for His instructions to get out of it. When Abraham and Isaac crossed the boundaries of Canaan out of their own wisdom and got into lots of trouble and heartache, Jacob waited on the Lord for instructions to move from place to place. Let us be warned that the enemy of our souls will try to make us believe that whatever that has come out of our wisdom and expertise is a ‘blessing’ from God. If we break God’s principles in doing business or any other partnership in this world, the ‘good’ results we pick up should not be considered as God’s blessings. Let us wait quietly in God’s presence and listen. Let us follow His commands meticulously. This will enable us to give all glory for all that we are and have to the Lord. We will thus sail through the sea of life according to the good, perfect and acceptable will of God. Only with such attitudes and efforts will our Lord be well pleased. Let us today commit ourselves to do what the Lord asks us to do in His strength, and attribute all the results to Him. Then we will be content, Like Paul, in our poverty and plenty alike, living daily by praising God in all our circumstances.  

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

Thought for Today

When our hearts and hands follow God’s commands, our eyes will see His blessings.

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SILENT FAITH!!

Silent faith!

Verse for Today: Monday, April 22, 2013

Psalms 62:5 - My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. 

We sometimes find our circumstances blocking us from all sides which make us shocked in fearful silence. It makes us emotionally paralyzed and freezes our ability to respond. When we are pushed from all corners, we are overwhelmed with tension and end up motionless and speechless before God and man. But in such circumstances, even our silence and sighs with a burdened heart convey our feelings of desperation to God as unspoken prayers. There are times when our situations create utter darkness on our pathways and it is seemingly impossible for us to go forward. We may find that we are forsaken by all around us. Sometimes our flesh might be tempted to express negative emotions out of disbelief, unbelief and exasperation. Our fleshly mind might burst out words of curses in desperation which would in no way please God. Our hearts might tremble with fear and anxiety about the consequences of our situations. David, Daniel and Paul went through such experiences when the enemies attacked them from all sides. But they learned to be quiet before God rather than grumble and plunge into unbelief. Their experiences teach us that in the quiet moments when our hearts are burdened, and when we sit in silent meditation in God’s presence, our souls will find comfort and strength. Our hearts will be ignited with the fire of hope from God to strengthen us to believe that our God will send us deliverance. He is able to do exceedingly well for us so that we will get out of the shackles of circumstances created by the enemy. Our hope is not in our friends, physical strength, wealth, linkages or past experience, for none of these will come to our rescue. Today we are encouraged by God to go and sit in silence in His presence and wait for Him to act on our behalf to deliver us from the rough patches of our lives.  

Dear friend, are you a weary soul, pushed around by your circumstances? Is the enemy using your situations and the people around you to intimidate you and challenge your faith? Are you being unfairly treated by the world around you? Are you under attack through false evidences and distortions? It is possible that we lose hope in times like these. But the Psalmist gives us great encouragement that there is hope and help for us. Our deliverance and help come from God alone. Let us not take our burdens to the unsympathetic world around us. Our Lord is with us to give us unflinching support and strength to keep going in all our circumstances. He will send deliverance at the right time on the wings of a dove. Until His release comes to us, He will give us the patience and strength to hold on. We are admonished to keep silent and wait for the Lord's time to come. When we wait for the Lord in silence, He will renew our strength with His power. When we suffer deeply and drain all our spiritual energies in the bitter experiences of life, it is not easy to keep quiet. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the prime example for us in that He kept silent when treated unfairly. When abused and slandered, He silently suffered it all. Our silence might be misunderstood as weakness, but it is strength under control. One of these days a new morning of renewal will come our way full of rays of hope. Our Good Samaritan will come our way to lift us up, dress our wounds with oil, give us a drink to soothe our patched throats and take us to His presence for rest. It is then that the suffering and battered children of God will sing praises for His deliverance. 

Psalms 37:7 – Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Thought for Today

The wind of hope comes to us on the wings of faith as we wait in silence in God’s presence.

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SURRENDERED FOR GLORY!!

Surrendered for glory!

Verse for Today: Saturday, April 20, 2013

John 2:11 – This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

God is pleased to glorify Himself through the events in the lives of His children if we let Him. He lives on the praises of angels all the time, but is still interested in using our life events to bring glory to Himself if we submit ourselves to Him. At Cana, there was a serious problem of shortage that was submitted to Jesus by faith by Mary. There were also a few servants, six mud pots and plenty of plain water made available to Him. Jesus turned the problem into great prospect of jubilation in the banquet hall. He used the servants to fill the pots and they filled it to the brink. He used the mud pots to contain the finest vine. He used plain water to make vine in split second. He used ordinary materials and people as instruments to take glory to Him. He brought great joy for the family and removed the possibility of shame and embarrassment. He used the series of simple events to touch the hearts and lives of His disciples to believe on Him. Today Jesus uses ordinary lives, events, materials and situations to reveal His greatness and glory. He also uses us in different ways to be partners in declaring His glory. But we must tell Jesus our problems and surrender all the resources that are at our disposal to Him so that He can use it to show forth His greatness. Mary, the servants, mud pots, water and the vine have a story to tell about how Jesus used all these to resolve a crisis and filled hearts with joy and relief. Today Jesus is looking for surrendered lives so that He can use it to turn the impossible into great realities. He wants to transform us, our situations and all that we have into avenues of great glory to Him if only we give Him the freedom to use it all the way He wants. Otherwise it will all remain useless for Him.

Dear friend, are you unconditionally available for God to use you the way He wants so that your life can become a platform for His glory? If you do not commit yourself with all that you have, your opportunity to glorify God will be lost. Jesus wants to come to your situation to address your problems and concerns. He desires that you present your problems, shortages and failures to Him and ask Him to take charge of your hopeless situation to make it right. There is no situation in your life that He cannot handle. When He takes charge of your situation, He will turn it into a magnificent experience which will make others marvel and astonished. He will use the mundane resources at your disposal for greater vistas of blessing. He will turn your tastelessness into wonders in hospitality. He will use your earthen vessels to contain His blessings. All your resources will have eternal value when submitted to Him. But if you disregard the opportunities imparted to you by grace, you will ultimately be disappointed and will regret it at the end. The transformation that Jesus promises in your life is total and the result will have eternal implications in your life and that of others. But it demands obedience, faith, commitment and surrender to Jesus with full trust that He will turn your situation into unfathomable splendor.  Today Jesus is waiting for you to invite Him into your difficult situations so that He could come into take control and transform it for your joy and His glory.

John 11:4 - …it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.    

Thought for Today

When we submit the rags of our lives to Jesus, He will transform it into splendid outcomes for His glory.

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UNWORTHY HERALDS!!

Unworthy heralds!

Verse for Today: Friday, April 19, 2013

John 1:27 – He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

Man is characteristically boastful about his self-worth. He thinks highly about his abilities, qualifications and accomplishments in comparison with others and tries to establish his superiority. But a person who has truly known God in His greatness will only be able to see own unworthiness. In order to see God in His power and strength, one has to have his eyes opened by God. When our spiritual eyes are blind, we will not be able to see the greatness of God and others. John the baptizer was a great man who was filled with the Spirit even before his birth. He had the privilege to be God’s messenger and the forerunner of Jesus to announce the arrival of the Kingdom of God. He was appointed to introduce Jesus to the world. When he saw Jesus, he realized his unworthiness. He had no hesitation to confess his lowliness publicly. In the light of the glory of Jesus, John acknowledged his nothingness. He was like a moon in the presence of the Sun (Son) of Righteousness. John had the grace to acknowledge his lowliness before the greatness of Jesus. He wanted Jesus to be exalted and him abased. It was all possible because John knew who he was and what he was worth. It is only when we are unable to see ourselves that we boast and express pride in our dealings with others. Today we have the privilege to see Jesus in His glory and live as His unworthy servants. When we see Jesus, we become so insignificant and unimportant in our perspective and fall prostrate and worship Him. Such an attitude will help us to serve Him without any earthly expectations or desires other than His glory. Thus when we serve Him, He will care for us and lead us victoriously in our service for Him.

Dear friend, do you ever get overwhelmed about your qualifications and expertise as you serve God? Is your heart becoming boastful about your accomplishments? Do you expect recognition, appreciation, position, prestige and prominence as you serve God? Today God wants to challenge you through John the baptizer who was willing to expose his nothingness and proclaim the greatness of Jesus. John was willing to lead an obscure life, rejecting all the comforts the world offered. He felt that he was called only to be the herald of Jesus. He was fully satisfied with being an announcer of the Kingdom and was always mindful of his unworthiness. He served God without favor and boldly preached the truth. His commitment was seen in his approach to sin in the life of people of his generation. He didn’t expect anything in return for his services for God and remained in the background to proclaim the glory of Jesus. His preaching was so powerful as to bring people of all walks of life to repentance. The messages he preached were full of godliness. He was willing to acknowledge the power of Jesus publicly. He declared his unworthiness boldly in front of people. He emulated Joseph and Daniel who gave full credit for the interpretation of dreams to God and expressed their unworthiness and disqualifications before the higher-ups. Paul kept telling people that his messages were from above. David sang about his encounters with God. His demeanor was that of a man after God’s own heart. God used these servants mightily because of their utter humility and brokenness. As they made their unworthy lives available to God unconditionally, they were granted the privilege to be servants of the Almighty. Today He is willing to make us His servants if we are willing to be broken and declare our unworthiness to Him.

Luke 17:10 – So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’

Thought for Today

When we look at ourselves through God’s eyes, we will see how small we are and how great He really is.

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UNSHACKLED!!

Unshackled!
Verse for Today: Thursday, April 18, 2013

Acts 5:19 – But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.

One of the greatest challenges in life is the prison experiences created by our circumstances and situations to shut us in. When we are in the dungeons of difficult circumstances, our greatest consolation is that we will not be there alone permanently. For a time, we might be locked up by our dark situations and we might be plunged into distress and anguish because of lack of freedom. But we will not be there alone because our Lord will be with us to give us fellowship, assurance and peace. When we pray for a release, our God will send His angels to unshackle us. Even when it is dark, angels will come in mysterious ways at unexpected times to rescue and deliver us. The world out there doesn’t know that even when we are shackled, our message will never be under its bondage. The world doesn’t realize that our Lord is watching our situations and that He will act to deliver His children. The world has no clue as to how and when our Lord will work for us in our times in the prisons the world puts us in. They also do not understand that when they touch us, they are truly touching our Lord. He rules and overrules our situations to deliver us from our bondage. His angels are at His service on our behalf and will act at the right time. When there is darkness around us, He will shed His light into our souls to revive us from our distress and despair. Our greatest comfort today is that our God knows all about our prison experiences caused by circumstances and will come in the middle of the night to get us out. He doesn’t want us to look at the iron bars which are erected around us by the world in the dungeons and get discouraged. He doesn’t want us to be afraid because of the darkness that is around us. One of these days, there will be supernatural interference in our situations to unshackle us.

Dear friend, are you suffocating in the narrow dungeons that the world has trapped you in? Do you wonder if there is really any escape from your complicated circumstances? Are you in despair about the darkness that prevails around your prison cells? Perhaps you are in the dungeon of debt, business failure, job loss, family concerns or conflicts. You might be in the prison of misunderstanding, hatred, jealousy, false accusations, anxiety or guilt. But your Lord wants you to know that He understands your situation well. He comes to brighten your cloudy and dark situations. He sends rays of hope into your dark dungeons.  You can continue to enjoy sweet fellowship with your Lord who enriches you with His presence in your dungeons. He will show you a way out of your shackles. Thus you will be free in your soul to praise God for your situations. Like Joseph, you could then look for opportunities to touch the lives of others who are in the dungeons of their situations. You might start singing to the power of your Lord even in the middle of the night for what the Lord is going to do for you. When you endure anguish, misery and distress in the web of your circumstance, He first releases your heart so that you will bear with your dungeon joyfully as did Paul in Philippi and Rome. You will be able to enjoy the exuberance of the presence of the Lord even when your circumstances try to clamp your feet. Hang in there, dear friend, for your Lord is with you in your dungeons. The Lord has allowed prison experience in your life to teach you patience, peace, maturity and contentment.

Acts 16:26 – At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.

Thought for Today

The power of Jesus will unshackle us from the bondage of our circumstances and situations.

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LEARNING FROM FAILURES!!

Learning from failures!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 17, 2013

John 21:6a – Jesus said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some (fish).”

There is an ocean of difference between doing things at our will and at God’s commandment. The secret of success of a child of God is to start by discerning whether his actions are prompted by self-will or by God’s instructions. In our urge to accomplish our priorities and goals, we often jump into our own decisions rather than wait for God’s will. But God comes to tell us to surrender our impulses to Him rather than go forward with our agenda. We are often like Peter and his brothers who went back to that which we they gave up for Jesus. But Jesus has a much better plan for us. When we get defeated in our own initiatives and as we reach the doldrums of our backsliding, He comes in search of us so that we can be restored. He meets us at the point of our greatest failures to rebuild our faith. He comes to take control of our failures and turn it around to accomplish His purpose in our lives. He shows us where, how and why we failed. He tells us that we must wait for His word to initiate actions. He meets us at the depth of our failures to encourage and strengthen us. He visits us in the depth of our discouragement and loss of dignity. He steps into strengthen our faith to keep going. He helps us to see our failures caused out of our individualism and self-will. He will be with us in our hopelessness, not to scold us or criticize us, but to give us another chance to put our faith in Him. Today Jesus comes our way to help us examine our failures and to get things right with Him so that our failures can be turned to great accomplishments for Him.

Dear friend, are you going through failures and defeats in certain areas of your life? Is there failure in your job, business, relationships, ministry, family life, or testimony? Do you feel that your means were right, and wonder why it ended in failure, loss and defeat? Are you facing embarrassment in life and have you become deeply discouraged because of failures? But at the bottom of your pit of failure, Jesus meets you to revive your sagging life. He comes not to find fault, but to turn your failures into great accomplishments for Him. He has the right answers to your questions about your failure. Perhaps you failed to ask for His permission before setting out. Perhaps your program was for your own accomplishments and not for the glory of God. Perhaps you ran ahead of God in your enthusiasm to get things done. But today He wants to teach you the greatest lessons that you must walk with Him rather than run before Him. If your desire is genuine to meet a realistic need, He will tell you what to do and where to cast your net. He doesn’t want you to wallow in your failures and get depressed, but to leap forward in new direction in hope and faith at His instruction. When you obey Him, there will be amazing results which will glorify Him. Your new catch will practically become His catch you got at His word. It will then be possible for you to sit in retrospect and rededicate your life for Him to use it as it pleases Him. The new lessons in faith will further equip you to become fit instrument in His hands. Your failure will thus become a turning point in your life for greater usefulness for Him. Just confess your inadequacy and powerlessness and He will transform it into great demonstration of His power. Today is your opportunity to use your failure as a platform to leap forward by faith.

Philippians 4:13 – I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

Thought for Today

When we surrender our failures and defeats to Jesus, He will transform our lives to demonstrate His mighty power.

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ORPHANS MADE HEIRS!!

Orphans made heirs!  

Verse for Today: Tuesday, April 16, 201 3

John 14:18 - I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  

We feel all alone when those whom we cherish and depend on reject and resent us. When we are left alone to suffer by those whom we love, it leaves deep wounds of abandonment in our souls. We look for help which seem to elude us and take our hope away. During such moments, we often feel left out as orphans sunk in exasperation and hopelessness. We feel unwanted and uncared for. We feel that no one understands and supports us in our struggles. We experience friendlessness, isolation, insulation and expulsion. During those dark moments, our enemy will whisper in our ears words of despair and despondency. In seasons like this, we desperately need to draw unto the Lord Jesus who is our anchor. He comes to reassure us that even if the whole world rejects us, He will be with us to comfort and strengthen us. He reminds us that He will not forsake or abandon us because we are His precious possession. His Word and Spirit erect a wall of divine love around us and keep us close to His heart. King David heard the voice of the Lord when all alone as a fugitive in caves, wilderness and mountains. Paul heard His words of encouragement during his prison experiences. Daniel heard Him while all alone in the lion’s den. When we listen to His voice through His Word, the feeling of being forsaken by others will vanish. Today He comes to remind us that He will never leave us alone as orphans, but that His presence will dwell with us in all our circumstances.

Dear friend, are you experiencing rejection, resentment and loneliness in the roughest moments of your life? Are you forsaken by the dearest and nearest ones because of misunderstanding, misrepresentation, jealousy, false accusations and hatred? But in your lonely moments, your beloved Lord comes to you on the wings of His mighty Word to fill your heart with His peace. His Word will shed light for your pathway in the dark moments of life when your situations leave you all alone in the dark alleys of life. His Spirit will fill your heart with divine assurance of being loved and cherished by your Lord. He will fill you with His love and show you how He is at work to carry you forward. Today if you feel lonely, the place to go is the presence of the Lord for a personal encounter with Him. He is there to speak to you and fill you with the richness of divine fellowship. His Spirit will fill you with patience, joy and the peace that passes all understanding. His Word will remind you of His potent promises. His angels will encompass around you and put a firewall of safety around you to keep negative thoughts away from your horizon. If you look through the eyes of faith, you will be able to see God’s angels coming to revive your sagging spirit with new commissions from Him. The Lord will give you fresh manna to revitalize your life of faith. He will open your heart to sing sweet melodies of trust, faith and reassurance. He will work to fill the vacuums in your life with His glory. He will come to you at the very hour of need with strength, courage and boldness to face your lonely moments. Today the Lord is your companion and friend through your troubled and lonely moments. Take a walk of faith with Him, talk to Him and share all your feelings with Him. Your heart will be at rest as you enjoy quiet fellowship with Him. You are no more an orphan, but the precious child of the Almighty.

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.  

Thought for Today

God’s children are not orphans, but inheritors of great and vast spiritual possessions as they walk with Jesus.

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SHELTER AND SHIELD!!

Shelter and Shield!

Verse for Today: Monday, April 15, 2013

Isaiah 25:4 - (The Lord) has been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.  

Storms in life threaten and discourage us and take away our confidence to face its wicked face. The parching heat of circumstances makes us crave for shades to escape its intensity. But the powers of the world prove to be incapable to ward off our fears in such circumstances as they are only mirages when we approach them. They do not have the capacity to protect us. They plunge us into false hope. But for our weary and frustrated souls, there is a source of true protection and safety under the wings of the Lord. He is the perfectly dependable refuge to all who go run into Him in their difficult circumstances and situations. He gives shelter with a banquet hall to those who are spiritually poor and admit their depravity. When the world makes prisoners out of us, the Lord liberates us to enjoy the comfort, hope, confidence and satisfaction which He offers. He hides us under His mighty wings where we find safety and fearlessness. Under His wings, there is grace available for us to face every difficult situation. He is our city of refuge to run into. He is our Rock of Ages to find stability in our unstable situations. He holds our hands and takes away all our fears, apprehensions and anxieties. His doors are always open for us to have free access to Him at any time. There is enough room for all of us to dwell under His shadows. He keeps his cool waters and green pastures ready for us to fearlessly enjoy in all our situations. Today He welcomes us to enjoy His shadows and the shelter of His wings and dwell in peace when we are caught in the devastating storms of everyday life.  

Dear friend, are you being battered by the buffeting storms and parching heat of your present circumstances? Is the pressure you endure in your soul burning you off? Does the enemy whisper hopelessness into your ears and push you to the depths of despair and distress? Are you being torn apart by stress and turmoil? Are there times when you do not have a place or a person to turn to and take a break? But in all your devastating circumstances, God is always a refuge to go to for shelter and protection. His presence will take away all your fears and give you courage and confidence. He comes to assure you that there is no need for you to lose heart in difficult situations. He offers you refuge under His wings, but will treat you as His precious child and not as a refugee. His walls of safety around you and the vastness of His resources will give you confidence and courage to keep dwelling under His wings and in His shadows. He will take special care to protect your heart and mind from getting baffled by your devouring situations. His Spirit is indwelling in you to remind you of the great and powerful promises He has made for you to face all your challenges in life. Storms and heat will not affect you when you are under His wings. There is absolute safety for you even when the world plunges you into its furnaces.  It is His loving responsibility to keep you from all harm and hurt, and sustain you through every turbulence that blasts against you. Today let us draw unto Him and confide in Him in our difficult situations and take confidence in His faithfulness to keep us going when the going gets tough. Let us not allow ourselves to get discouraged by looking at our circumstances, but be encouraged and strengthened by taking refuge in our God.  

Psalms 9:9 - The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, and a stronghold in times of trouble.  

Thought for Today

Earthly forces will not destabilize us when we are covered by the Heavenly Shield.

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DWELLING WITH JESUS!!

Dwelling with Jesus!

Verse for Today: Saturday, April 13, 2013

John 1:39 – “Come,”, (Jesus) replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

There are a lot of people who observe Jesus from a distance, but do not use the opportunity to get to know Him closer. Jesus is asking all such people to go close to Him and spend the impending night with Him to bring heaven down to their lives. Staying with Jesus means accepting all inconveniences attached to a person who had no place to lay his head. But when we go and dwell with Him, our night becomes day and our life becomes heavenly. Our time with Him is sufficient to change our lives for the present and the future. We will find right answers to our puzzling questions, doubts and confusions that we might have. He will fill our hearts with the love, peace and grace of God as happened to Andrew and John who dwelt with Him for a night. They beheld His glory in some measure as it was possible for them to understand. But it was the beginning of a lifetime of fellowship, interaction and fulfillment. It changed their goals in life from temporal to eternal. It revolutionized their thinking, rearranged their priorities and gave them a new vision. Meeting with Jesus created such a great impact in their lives to make them convince others to go to Him. They later gave up dependence on their career, livelihood, business and relationships for Jesus. They were ready to die for public opinion and were willing to live against the religious powerhouses of their times. They developed faith in Him which took away their cares in life and made them challenge the notions of existentialism. They decided to live for Jesus and not for themselves. Today Jesus is asking us to dwell with Him and enjoy His Lordship which is a yoke of love and grace that gives us the thrill of a lifetime.

Dear friend, if you are seeking genuine purposefulness, it can be found in Jesus. If you are concerned about cares and challenges in life, Jesus will meet it. If you hand over your life and its priorities to Jesus, He will revolutionize it for His glory. He will empower and enable you to live by faith and trust in Him to meet your every need. If you have puzzles for which there are no human answers, the Lord Jesus will be your answer. You can confide in Him in all your situations. When we experience darkness all around which petrifies us, Jesus will lighten up our pathways. Jesus is the answer to all homeless people like Jacob by showing them His eternal home for them to live with Him forever. When you are with Him, your every need is looked after according to His riches in glory. Your initial encounter with Jesus will convince you that there is always room for you near to His heart. When you meet with Jesus, He has a lot to tell you about the Father’s House where there is provision for your every situation. But we have to leave the cares of the world behind us to join with Jesus to dwell with Him. It will be the beginning of a new relationship which will redefine all our earthly relationships. He will compensate us richly for all our losses in this temporal world when we meet Him at the Bema. The world might call us thoughtless people for leaving all that we have in this world behind us for Jesus. Today Jesus asks us to go and dwell with Him through the dark night that is ahead of us and enjoy His light to weather away all the cares of this life.

John 6:68 – Simon Peter answered (Jesus), “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Thought for Today

Blessed are those who taste the sweetness of dwelling with Jesus, for they would be enthralled in His love.

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PROCESSION OF BLESSINGS!!

Procession of blessings!

Verse for Today: Friday, April 12, 2013

John 1:16 – From the fullness of (Christ’s) grace we have all received one blessing after another.

God deals with man through the abundance of His grace. It is unilateral outpouring of God’s favor on man who does not deserve it because man willfully rejected God and His commandments. There was no reason why God should come back to man except because of His infinite love for him. The love of God compels Him to extent favor and blessings upon man. These blessings are the opportunities that God extends to man to come back to God and establish a new relationship. All the favors that we enjoy today are God’s ways of touching our lives and speak loudly about His desire that we acknowledge His love towards us. All things that God extends to man to sustain him are heavenly messages of love to man to get back to God. Through all provisions, protection and peace that are promised to man, God wants to touch human life. He continues to shower blessings of various kinds upon us to remind us that He cares for us. All the blessings that God sends us are from the fullness of His grace which never fades away. He knows the areas of our lives where we need blessings of various kinds and supplies it at the right time in the right measure. All blessings are gifts of grace from Him on the basis of our immediate and futuristic needs. The physical and emotional gifts we receive follow the spiritual grace that is imparted. Ultimately God is committed to grant us spiritual gifts which alone will last for eternity. We are thus blessed with all the spiritual blessings of the heavenly places to enjoy here and now for all our situations with ultimate impact all through eternity. It is our resource to appropriate by faith to live victoriously.

Dear friend, is there a feeling of emptiness in your soul today? Are you living in frustration because many of your dreams are like unrealistic scribbling on the smokescreen? Are the winds of circumstances blowing away your dreams in life? Today God wants you to come down from the wings of dreams and desires and fly on the wings of faith to higher vistas of life by enjoying the blessings God wants to grant you. He knows all your needs and has prepared ways and means to help you meet those needs so as to live a spiritually fulfilling life here on earth. He has already blessed you with all the blessings of the heavenly places here and now and has prepared everything you need to live a joyful life on a daily basis. God wants to fill your life with Jesus in His character and person. He has spread His table before you with all His resources to meet your physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. He doesn’t want you to live an empty life any more. If you try to draw from the Vanity Fair of this world, you will have an unfulfilled life portrayed by emptiness, frustration, purposelessness and chaos. But if you draw spiritual blessings spread for you on the table of blessings of the Lord, it will enrich you with bliss. You are positionally given these blessings one after the other to meet your emerging needs, but you must claim it by faith. If you are disobedient, you must confess it and get right with the Lord for you to enjoy the blessings. If you have taken a detour in your sojourn, you must come back to the cross and walk after the crucified One. His blessings are like a vast ocean from which you should draw to drink to the brink. Today He invites you to enjoy His blessings of joy, love, peace and patience to meet the challenges of everyday life.

Ephesians 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.     

Thought for Today

We are called upon to live to enjoy heaven on earth here and now.

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TRANQUILITY AMIDST TUMULTS!!

Tranquility amidst tumults!

Verse for Today: Thursday, April 11, 2013

Mark 6:31b – Then …….. (Jesus) said to (the disciples), “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

God is concerned that His children go to find rest in His presence. But human life is such that we often find our days full of activities, turbulence and tumults. Our busyness thwarts us of rest for our bodies and minds. But God tells us that it is important to recharge our spiritual batteries in His presence. We will not be boggled with anxiety and cares of life when we are in His presence. We will find rich fellowship with Him and will engage in sweet communication with Him. It is when we quietly listen that the Lord will speak to us. He has a lot to tell us about Himself and His plan for our lives. Abraham developed a habit to meet with God daily at a particular time and place for rich fellowship. Their regular meetings developed into friendship which resulted in God revealing His plan of action to Him. Abraham received great promises from God during those quiet moments. It was there that Abraham laid down his burdens and shared his apprehensions and desires. Those were seemingly unstable days for Abraham who was a tent-maker, moving from place to place as a stranger and a pilgrim. But He was strengthened through those quiet moments. David experienced such quiet moments in caves and forests when he was a fugitive. But those moments produced the greatest psalms which depicted the character of God. Joseph, Paul and Peter enjoyed such quiet moments in their prison cells. John experienced the richness of his quiet moments with Jesus in exile in Patmos. God knows how much we all need such rest to regain strength and restore our brokenness. He encourages us to go near to His heart to take a break each day and rest a while to regain our vitality and vigor for Him.

Dear friend, are you leading a busy life which takes heavy toll on your body, mind and spirit? Do you ever feel drained out and exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually? God doesn’t want you to become a physical or emotional wreck and break down. He wants you to find enough time to rest and enjoy the peace that God’s presence would provide. His Spirit and Word will restore your brokenness and remove frustrations and stress. He will rebuild you through His Word to strengthen your faith and increase your trust in Him. He will establish your mind at peace in your tumultuous circumstances. He will find ways to handle your difficult situations. When you are alone with the Lord, you can express your concerns and confusions to Him and get vital answers. He is available to His children all the time and is willing to give us rest if we take time off to approach Him. During these quiet moments, He will share spiritual insights with you which will make your life aglow. Your heart and expressions will shine with His glory when you spend time with Him just as Moses did. Your heart will become a fountain of spiritual hymns in spite of your difficult situations as in the case of David. When you get revitalized and reemerge from God‘s presence, you will be able to share God’s glory with others as Paul and John Did. When you get the touch of His power, you will be able to reach out people who are weak and brokenhearted to impart spiritual healing. Today Jesus is asking you to take time off your tumultuous life to spend a few quiet moments with Him so that your life will be enriched with His glory, filled with His Word and moved by His Spirit to face future challenges.

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

Thought for Today

When we go to the Lord to unburden ourselves, He will fill us with His power and strength to live victoriously.

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MY SUFFICIENCY!!

My sufficiency!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Luke 22:35 – Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.

When God sends His children on their pilgrimage, all their needs are looked after by Him. When they are sent without anything in their hands, there is a guarantee that He will provide for them as each need arises. But at difficult times, He gives them some provisions in advance to take with them. In both these instances, it is God who meets the needs of His children. He wants His children to trust Him in all circumstances with full confidence in His capacity and willingness to look after them. It is no longer the strength of our investments that ought to make us keep going, but the vast and immeasurable resources in His heavenly treasury. So we must envisage our God as the sources of all our resources. His storehouse opens each day to meet all our needs. He sustained the Israelites for forty years as they traveled through the wilderness. At each point of need, God’s treasure house was opened to give them food, shelter, water, light, guidance and instructions till they reached the Promised Land. They had no idea for how long their journey would last. If they had known this ahead of time, they would have developed anxiety about sustenance. But for each of their days and needs, there was heavenly provision. They crossed seas and rivers and found victory over their enemies not because they were experts at it, but because their God held their hands. He gave them newer provisions each day to make their journey exciting. The same grace is extended to us today as we are on a pilgrimage to walk after the Heavenly Prince with His assurance that we will not lack any good thing.

Dear friend, do you wonder how you will meet your needs when your pocket and bag are empty? Is there doubt as to how the next meal will come? But our God has a great plan to meet all our needs on a daily basis. He is our security for the future and not the systems of this world. He will provide for our every need for food, clothing, shelter and mobility as we set out to follow Him. When we face anxiety, God comes to ask us whether we lacked any good thing so far. His question is definitely not about luxury, comfort or extravagance, but about our daily needs as travelers. A traveler’s needs are never permanent, but emerging. Apostle Paul was a traveler for Jesus and He met all of Paul’s needs on a daily basis. But Paul’s focus was never on his needs, but on his mission for Jesus. He never bothered about comfort or luxury and was always contented with whatever God supplied on a daily basis. He took each of his experiences a leading from Jesus and accepted it with praise in his heart. He did not treat his experiences as ups and downs, but as hills and valleys of a normal pilgrimage. For Paul, the journey was a walk with Jesus and he enjoyed its thrill every moment. He was least bothered what he had in his pocket or from where the next meal would come, but entrusted it to the Lord and kept walking. His Shepherd was sufficient for all His needs and so he didn’t feel that he lacked anything. The disciples found the same experience of sufficiency of God on all the days of their lives whether it was a prison cell to sleep or an island in exile. Jesus leads us every step of the way and provides for our every need to facilitate our journey. It is a great challenge to leave the security of the world behind and keep carrying the cross to walk after Jesus.

Psalms 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  

Thought for Today

The measure of our sufficiency is what God gives us each day to meet all our needs and not what we accumulate in this world.

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