SURRENDERED LONGINGS!!

Surrendered longings!

Verse for Today: Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Psalms 38:9 – All my longings lie open before You, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from You.

We all have our own dreams which we try to accomplish. Some of these are daydreams which will only remain in our imagination because they are meaningless. Human life is a procession of desires and corresponding efforts to fulfill them. Thus life is full of frustrations on the one side and elevated aspirations on the other. But a sure way to aspire and accomplish what God wants in our lives is to bare our longings before Him and wait patiently. When our desires are thus presented to the Lord, He will take it from us and accomplish it for our joy and His glory if it is according to His will. God often works through our desires which He gives to us when we transform our minds to be sensitized to His plans for us. Sometimes when we lay bare our desires to God, there is a long waiting period for its accomplishment as answers to our prayers and sighs. Sometimes we are too early for God’s plan in our lives. But when we wait in prayer, God fulfills His plans for us in our lives. But we must be fully open for God to make the final decision about our longings. If we keep our desires close to our hearts and insist on fulfilling it, it might be allowed in God’s permissive will, but we will have to bear its consequences. But if we wait for God’s perfect will, He will reveal it at the right time and enable us to accomplish it for His glory. God doesn’t expect us to take our future into our own hands, but to submit it to Him to handle it His way. He wants us to have longings for Him and not for our selfish interest. He also has desires for our lives for His name can be glorified through it all. If we are fully His, our desires become His and He will then energize us with His power to accomplish it for His glory.

Dear friend, is there any desire in your heart and life today that is not for God? Do you long to accomplish anything to gratify your selfish ambitions? Are you after position, recognition, comfort, fame and fortune? Are you thinking about schemes to enlarge your worldly desires? Are you not satisfied with what the Lord is giving you on a daily basis? God wants to remind you that all your worldly accomplishments will end here on earth without any eternal impact in your life and the life of people who are linked with you. Interestingly, whether you bare your longings to God or not, He knows it all. So when you tell God about your longing, it is in a way submission of your desire for God to fulfill, redesign or even dismantle it completely. When we give God such freedom and do not take our own initiative, and as we pray for God’s will to be revealed, He will take it, reshape and give it back to us to work on it. Such openness is the mark of a person who fully trusts God to give him the best from heaven. Thus our unfulfilled dreams will not lead us to frustrations, but praise. Today let us examine our lives to see if we are totally open to the choices of the Lord in our lives. Let us lay bare all our desires, priorities, likes, dislikes, aspirations and ambitions and ask Him to rule and overrule all our situations to accomplish only His perfect will in our lives. Let us learn to be contented with what God allows in our lives on a daily basis and praise Him for it all.

Psalms 37:5 – Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.

Thought for Today

God rules and overrules all our longings if they are laid bare in His presence and left it there.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me to trust You to handle all my desires in life for Your glory. Amen!

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BURDEN BEARER!!

Burden Bearer!

Verse for Today: Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Psalms 68:19 – Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.  

Human life is filled with burdens, cares and concerns which fill our days. When some burdens are sorted out, others emerge in its place demanding greater attention and energy. There are physical, emotional and social burdens in the areas of finances, health, relationships, occupation and assets. All life we fight out these burdens with the help of experience, expertise and environment. The world is out there to extend help and support which often only add to our burdens rather than take it away. The world solves our financial problems and makes us debtors. They resolve one health problem and expose us to several newer issues. Its lukewarm water increases our thirst and its Vanity Fair makes us slaves to its attractions. Its expertise breaks far more relationships than what it tries to mend. Satisfaction in most jobs is very poor, yet we work to earn more and more and thus become slaves to materialism. But we can find that God alone can lift our burdens and handle our concerns. He detaches us from our earthly burdens and attaches us to the divine. He bears our burdens and makes us free. When we are tired of carrying our burdens, He carries us along with our burdens in His hands. Our emotional burdens are often our reaction to events in our lives and individuals linked with us. But these burdens are a bridge between us and our Lord when He comes to carry it for us as on a daily basis. When He helps us with our burdens, our yoke becomes easy and our burden light. But if we try to carry these burdens in our own strength, we will go weary and tired physically, emotionally and spiritually. When He is ready, willing and capable to carry our burdens, there is no need for us to carry it ourselves and feel miserable. We can bury our burdens at the foot of the cross. Our Lord helps us to lighten our load and give us hope to keep going. He who strengthened Paul, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Samuel, Moses, Jacob, David and Job in their burdens will help and sustain us also.

Dear friend, perhaps you are carrying some physical, emotional or spiritual burden today? Are you getting tired and weak as the burden becomes heavier day by day? But there is abundance of grace in the presence of the Lord for His children who carry burdens. Burdens are often a mark of our concern for things around us. We are instructed to carry burdens of other believers and help reduce the weight others carry in their lives.  But there is a place of quiet rest in the presence of the Lord where we can go moment by moment and place our burdens in His hands with which He carries all of us. When we give our burdens to the Lord in prayer, He carries it for us and helps us to do what we need to do. His Word and Spirit will comfort us and wipe our tears away as we carry our burdens and walk with Him. When the burden is too heavy for us, He will carry us along with our burdens in His hands. Let not the weight of the burden you carry discourage or weaken you in your faith.  If your Lord has promised to carry your burdens, there is really no justification for you also to carry it. No burden comes to you without His knowledge. He has divine purposes in allowing you to carry burdens, and in the process you will grow stronger in faith. Let us praise the Lord for the burdens we are made to carry and lessons He is teaching us through it all. 

Psalms 55:22 - Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.  

Thought for Today

Burden bearing is a partnership when we carry our burdens and our Lord carries us.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me to praise You for the lessons of faith You have taught me today. Amen!

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FEARLESS FAITH!!

Fearless faith!

Verse for Today: Monday, December 23, 2013

Luke 8:50 - Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid, just believe, and she will be healed."  

Our times are filled with impossibilities and hopelessness. Our hopeless circumstances often make us discouraged. We sometimes receive information about our situations which drain away all our courage and confidence and plunge us into the fear of its consequences. The enemy of our soul makes our circumstances grow more and more complicated. The faithless world talks about its impossibilities and unbelief. But all the time, our God is at work in our situations to bless us and remove our fears. He has answers to our burdens and fears and works to encourage and strengthen us. He wants us to grow in our faith and sometimes delays to rest our faith in His power to handle our situations. He wants us to believe that He will be able to deliver us from our difficulties against all odds. Perhaps things look hopeless for us today, like that of Jairus. His religiosity did not help him in his difficulty. But it was commendable that he invited Jesus into his house to take control of his hopeless situation. We often find Jesus delaying to come, and we are puzzled at the traffic blocks on the way, as experienced by Jairus. But we must realize that even though our need is greatest for us, Jesus knows how He is going to handle our case and might delay His action to test and strengthen our faith further. Perhaps what He is doing in other lives around us is not only for them, but also for us to boost our faith and courage. If He is able to heal a chronically ill woman, He will definitely be able to do great things in our lives also.

Dear friend, are you weary and distressed about your difficult circumstances today? Are you on the verge of losing all hope and ready to give up? Do you feel that all odds are against you including the delay of Jesus?  But these are the doubts the enemy is creating in our hearts through our circumstances. We do not need to abandon our hope in Jesus because of what happens in our situations because the Lord of all circumstances is with us. He is working in our lives in spite of circumstances. No matter what kind of hindrance is seen in our situations, the Lord is preparing us and our circumstances to demonstrate His solutions to our problems. Perhaps you are burdened about a member of your family who is not yet saved? You might be waiting for a job or solution to a difficult financial situation. You might be praying for the Lord to remove a misunderstanding the enemy has caused in the minds of others about you. It might be that there is not much visible result in your ministries. You also might be facing the problem of friendlessness and feeling lonely. No matter what your difficult situation is, Jesus Christ is sufficient to meet your need and give you deliverance. Invite Jesus into your circumstance and hand your burden over to Him to have full control over it. He will come in at His time and handle your difficulty according to His will which will be far better than your own plan.  Once He is allowed to be in charge, He will resolve it all for your comfort and courage, and for His glory. Jesus will come in and change your tears into joy and lighten your burdens. 

Psalms 34:4 – I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.

Thought for Today

Jesus comes into our situation to remove our inner fear and outer problem of our situation.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me today to put my total faith in you to handle my situation along with the fears and apprehensions of my heart. Amen!

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VICTORIOUS FAITH!!

Victorious faith!

Verse for Today: Sunday, December 22, 2013

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

It is unthinkable in our times to get victory without fighting. We find almost all living beings fight to survive in our competitive world. The world’s dictum is that smarter fighters and strategists find victory. We are confronted by evil forces on the outside to defeat us. Often our enemies within us are more formidable than those that are outside. But when we commit ourselves and our enemies to God He will take care of our battles. God reassures all His children that they need not fight their battles, but just be still and wear His full armor to keep going by faith. When God fights our battles, we can be confident of victory. Today He is the unseen captain of the army which fights for His children here on earth. 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. He will show us red seas to take away our confidence. Simultaneously he will try to close in from behind with his powerful army of demons to make us doubt and confuse us. We are often closed in from all sides and pushed into helplessness and hopelessness. The enemy tries to germinate murmur, complaint, cries of exasperation and unbelief as we face our cloudy external situations. But when we grope for direction, our Lord comes to holds our hands and take us forward trough the hindrances that the enemy brings on our way to destroy our faith. When He fights our battles with our enemies, all we need is confidence and faith to be still and leave our battles and its consequences to Him.

Dear friend, are you being terrorized by the enemy through difficult circumstances? Are you battling against the formidable enemies of doubts, confusion, uncertainties, faithlessness, failures, threats and anxiety in life? Are your situations cloudy and hopeless? Remember, your enemy is trying to engage you in psychological warfare. He is trying to make you feel powerless and weak to fight against him and his tactics. But God has established the powerhouse of His Spirit to give you faith, confidence and courage and be silent and still in the midst of turbulence and turmoil in your situations. Your Lord has gone before you to fight for you. His armor is sufficient to handle any weapon of flesh used by the enemy. God’s Spirit will help you to handle your doubts, confusions and unbelief and dismantle it all to help you stay confident and enjoy victory. He is now asking you to be still and know that He is in control of your circumstances. He will remove all barriers and hindrances for you to go forward. He has promised to take you to the other side the red sea into the Promised Land. All His promises will be accomplished at the right time. Even though the enemy is coming after you to put hindrances on your way, you may consider it as a time of testing of your faith. His cloud of light is going before you day and night to show you the way. Whether you are in the desert or walking between the water walls of the red sea, the Lord's light is going forward to guide you further in your sojourn. You need to be still and silent, rather than wallow in fear. Go on with faith and trust in your Lord and in His mighty power. He will grant you confidence and strength in the wake of your battles and lead you to victory by faith.  

2 Chronicles 20:15 – Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

Thought for Today

Faith in God’s mighty power makes us stay still in the wake of fierce battles in life.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me to have unflinching faith in Your power to give me victory over the tactics of the enemy. Amen!

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Your comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

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CONFESSING FAITH!!

Confessing faith!

Verse for Today: Saturday, December 21, 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".  

When we are confronted with the reality of our failures, we must confess it before we start again. Admission of failure is not accepting defeat, but preparation to start the right way. It is important to confess our failures to God who comes to turn our failures into success His way. The predicament of Simon and his friends can be seen all around today when God's people try to get results through their own efforts. We don’t’ seem to get results in spite of commendable expertise and best efforts. We have to confess our backsliding and our work of flesh and submit ourselves to the will of God. Then God will use such turning points in our lives to prove to us that without Him, we can do nothing. We must carefully and spiritually discern these matters. Whenever we get some results, we must discern whether it comes from the Lord or from the enemy because the enemy can fool us to think that it comes from the Lord. Sometimes the enemy brings in some results and will try to make us believe that our efforts may also bring in good results. The miracles performed by the magicians of Egypt are a good example for this. We also find that sometimes when we face failure in getting results, instead of confessing it to the Lord, we try again and again like Simon and his friends. But genuine trust in the Lord will lead us to go to Him and admit our failures. We must receive instructions from Him to take the next step forward. Then we get the kind of results that the Lord wants us to have. What comes from the Lord brings glory to Him whereas what comes from our efforts gives us worldly recognition and pride. Nebuchadnezzar felt that all that he achieved were from his own efforts and took great pride in it rather than humbling himself before God. Such pride often ends up in frustration. 

Dear friend, are you confronted with failure on your pathway in spite of best efforts and expertise? Is success eluding you even after continuous efforts? It is time to examine whether you are on the right path and whether your means are according to God’s will. Have you been obeying the Lord’s commandment or following your own instinct and whims? Perhaps you are doing things out of frustration and not out of faith and trust. Before you set out, ask the Lord to reveal His will to you. Even after you are on your way, keep verifying to make sure that you don’t take overtake Him. Sometimes the Lord will speak to you in the depth of failures to help you to confess your wrong steps and get back to His will. Remember, the enemy of our soul and his world system will give us ideas to put our expertise and experience together to go the wrong way and then make us believe that it has come from the Lord. Let us be very careful to know the mind of the Lord and keep away from anything that the world entices us to do. Let us listen to the Lord, obey what He says and do everything according to His commandments and will. This will enable us to give all glory to Him for all that we are and have. Then the Lord will be pleased with our lives and efforts. Let us today confess our failures and follow the Lord’s instructions to go forward. Then we will find the Lord’s blessings on our pathways.   

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

Thought for Today

Actions that are based on the Lord's commandments will find results based on His will.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me today to listen to and obey Your instructions and acknowledge Your will in all that I do today. Amen!

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Your comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

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QUIET FAITH!!

Quiet faith!

Verse for Today: Friday, December 20, 2013

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

Silent waiting is very difficult especially when heart is desperate and there is impending danger in front of our eyes. There are times when our situations are dark without any light to go forward. When our rights are taken away from us and when we are isolated and rejected, it is not easy to be silent. At times we find our friends forsaking and forgetting us. There are times when nobody stops by to show sympathy and nurse the wounds inflicted on us by the looters and the dacoits among our own people. We might feel hopelessness and helplessness. In such situations, our human weakness will make us murmur and complain about our situation. Our hearts might tremble with fear about the uncertain future. King David went through such experiences of constant attack all around. Daniel and Paul had similar experience and their painful days were on the increase day by day. But they were quiet before the Lord and never complained. Their lives are a challenge and a lesson for us to be silent in God’s presence because He is working in our situations to bring in necessary changes. If we meditate on the Lord and His mysterious ways, our souls will become silent and speechless. Our hearts will be ignited with the fire of hope from the Lord that soon He will send us deliverance. He is able to do exceedingly well for us to get out of the shackles of our dark situations. He proves to us through these events that our hope is not to be in our friends, physical strength, wealth, connections with great people or past experience, for none of these will come to our rescue. Today we are challenged to be quiet before the Lord and wait for Him to send us His deliverance. 

Dear friend, are you a weary soul, pushed around in the sea of life? Are you being unfairly treated by the world around you? Do you feel deprived of your rights and privileges? It is possible to lose hope in times like these. But God gives us great encouragement and hope through His Word that our help comes from the Lord. Let us not take our cases to the unsympathetic world around us. Our Lord is with us to give us unflinching support and strength to keep going. He is our hope in this hopeless world. 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 and be silent before Him. They that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength which comes from the Lord. It is true that when we suffer deeply and drain our spiritual energies in the bitter experiences of life, it is not easy to keep silent. Our Lord Jesus kept silent when treated unfairly and set us an example. When abused and slandered, He silently suffered it. When we keep quiet, it might be taken as weakness, but a new morning of restoration will dawn on our way. Our Lord will settle things for us and bring us to victory and contentment. Our Good Samaritan will come our way and lift us up, dress our wounds with oil and wine and take us to His presence for rest. Dear friend, your silence today is golden and will have its reward in the presence of God. It is your time to learn patience and trust in the mighty power of God. Just wait for that day, put your hope in the Lord and continue in silence before Him.  

Psalms 61:8 - Trust in (the Lord) at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.

 

Thought for Today

Waiting in silence strengthens our faith to keep hoping in the Lord for His answers to our burdens.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me today to follow Your example and be silent and waiting for Your time to come to lift me up. Amen! 

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  Your comments, feedback and suggestions are welcome.

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SLEEP IN ADVERSITY!!

Sleep in adversity!

Verse for Today: Thursday, December 19, 2013

Acts 12:6 - The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.  

It is extremely difficult to sleep the night before one’s execution. It is also amazing to see how a prisoner would sleep in the midst of soldiers, bound with two chains and being watched by sentries. How would a human being go into sound sleep under these circumstances except by supernatural enabling when the heart is filled with the peace of God which passes all understanding! Of course, God has promised His children sleep even in adverse circumstances. It is also true that when the Keeper of Israel was neither sleeping nor slumbering, Peter did not need to keep himself awake. Peter could enjoy this human impossibility by sleeping sound, leaving all the eventualities to the Lord. He knew that the Lord was in full control of his difficult and seemingly hopeless situation. There was a promise from Jesus before the Crucifixion about the mode of Peter’s death that it would not be by sword as in the case of James. But it is not easy to think about that promise hours before execution by sword. This was the sleep the Lord gave Peter in the midst of the greatest threat to his life. Through this incident, the Lord showed Peter and the prayer meeting in John Mark's home that He watches over His children that no one will touch His beloved children without his permission. It is also a message to us today to be confident in the wake of difficult circumstances which try to engulf us.  

Dear friend, are you going through perilous times when your situations seem to swallow you up? Do you feel threat for your life from the enemy? Are you afraid to face your tomorrow because of some undesirable things which await you and you wonder if you have any capacity to handle it? Do you feel that you cannot face your tomorrows because of the intimidating realities which are out there to devour you? Is it a negative medical report, a call from your creditors, a possible job loss, a rumor spread about you by the enemy through people who are closely linked with you, loneliness, a business failure, loss of a loved one or some other adversity? No matter what it is, you must understand that your Lord knows all about it and He is in full control over your dark situation. He has a plan to release you from the chains which bind you. It doesn't matter how strong the chains are and how powerful the soldiers who watch over you might be. It is not important how many doors are there for the prison cell in which you are kept in the night and how dark the night might be. The Lord is able to give you sleep as you entrust the eventualities with Him. Your Lord is ruling and overruling your situation to release you and take full glory for it. His angels are encompassing around you and they will lead you by the hand and take you out of your situation. The chains will soon fall off and the sentries will go into a coma. The 'Rhodas' might not even believe that it is your voice when you call out. Your release will look unbelievable, but it is a reality that you need to experience by faith. Let us praise God who still interferes in our situations miraculously to calm us down, give us sound sleep and rest and release us from our bondage for His glory and our joy.

Psalms 4:8 - I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.   

Thought for Today

Even in the midst of adversity, as our Lord is awake and keeps watching over us, we need not lose our sleep and peace.

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord Jesus: Help me to trust You to give me peace and rest in the midst of turbulence in life because You are with me. Amen! 

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