ROYAL ESCORTS

Verse for Today: Thursday, November 11, 2010

Psalms 57:3 - He shall send from Heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

A child of God always finds evil forces around which try to swallow him or her up. These forces create fierce intimidation on a continuous basis to make us feel that all doors are closed and that we have to turn our backs and run away or call it quits. In such situations, when we turn around, we often see no way out of our predicaments. These forces include our circumstances of health, job, finances and debt, disobedient children, non-cooperating mates, difficult relationships at job or in the neighbourhoods, cruel bosses and colleagues, non-supportive and gossiping church members and irresolvable problems of various other kinds which are perennially suffocate us. We often do not see any way out of these circumstances and entanglements which try to devour us like roaring lions. The Psalmist went through such experiences for several years. We also see a number of God's children whose names crowd the columns of the Bible who had similar encounters and fierce battles, like Jacob, Joseph, Hannah, Ruth, Nehemiah, Esther, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter and others. They all join the Psalmist to testify that when they went through the experiences described by the Psalmist, the Lord sent help from Heaven to save them from being swallowed by the situations and circumstances. But they continued by faith and trust in the Lord to accomplish His purpose for them in the world. So they all stood the ground by the mercy and truth of the Lord all the days of their lives and weathered away the the deceptions and accusations of the enemy to try to annihilate them from the face of the earth. The same Lord is a living reality today, and He rules and overrules all circumstances and situations for His children in victorious living day by day. Their faith and experiences are a shot in our arms to hold on to the faith of our fathers to keep going during these difficult days.

Dear friend, have you ever been tempted to think that your present situation is a hopeless one? Do you feel that you are in a room without doors and can't get out or escape? These feelings are from the flesh and the ideas the enemy plants in front of you to distract and drift you from the path of faith and truth marked out for you by the Lord. If you feel that there is no escape for you, the Lord will appear before you as the door and the way. He is the way and He will show the way, as He walks with you and walks in front of you. He is your light for your path and lamp for your feet so that you can go forward with courage and confidence. He will lead you a step at a time and a day at a time. If you are ready to take His hand and walk the first mile and complete it, He will show you the next mile. He will also give you the energy to walk the next mile and give you the faith to trust Him to know that another mile is lying ahead for you to walk. There might be other problems in the course of the future miles that you need to walk, but He is not going to tell you about it because those are not your concern, but His. He prepares your way for a safe journey and safe landing at your destination. Your responsibility is to walk a step at a time and leave the future steps to Him. At each step of the way, His mercy is there for you to escape the perils and snares of the enemy. His truth is your travel companion to tell you that the Lord who is the Truth is with you, with all His promises to take you forward. Not only that, He has made sure that you are not swallowed up so far in spite of the repeated threats that the forces around you echoed in your ears, and that is sufficient proof that the enemy is only sabre rattling and that your beloved Lord will never allow any force to devour you or wipe you out of the face of the earth. So, dear friend, cheer up and walk your mile today and be a blessing to those who go through bitter experiences in life. Let your testimony of faith, courage and confidence be their added strength to keep going. You are escorted by the mercy and truth of the Lord on your forward march even today.

Psalms 34:19 - A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Thought for Today
A life of faith is a forward march escorted by mercy and truth on either side.

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Faith Shatters Fear

Verse for Today: Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Psalms 56:11 - In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Trust and fear are contradictory to each other. A person who trusts in God cannot be afraid at the same time. Where there is fear, there cannot be any trust either. But we find that fear creeps into the lives of God's people in spite of their trust in His power. Fear is a negative emotion that has crept into human lives as a result of the entry of sin into their lives. Before sin entered, man had perfect fellowship with God and he had no cares, burdens, fears or heartaches. But the moment sin entered, fear also emerged, and so man had to run away and hide from God. Man was afraid of God's wrath for his disobedience. Ever since this occurrence, man has lived in fear. He fears God and the consequences of sin in his life. Man has also become susceptible to fear about other human beings, wild animals, environmental changes and natural calamities, accidents, malfunction of equipment and the possibilities of some things going wrong in and around his life. Fear of failure is another kind of fear most people have. Man is also afraid of death, sickness, human enemies and Satan. The cunning Satan has used all his shrewd tactics to make man more fearful by stuffing his mind with negative thoughts and pessimism. Sadly, a large number of children of God are lured into fear as they are on their sojourn. Satan has created a world of fear, where almost everything in life has a fear element in it. Satan has thus made man a slave to fear and this fear is made to rule the world. The media which is largely under the control of Satan helps him perpetuate fear by broadcasting bad news every minute of the day or night. No one has any good news to propagate except the Bible which is the book of the good news of God that all who trust in Him can live without becoming a slave to fear. Jesus has promised victory over fear for all the children of God. His Spirit is the Spirit of confidence and courage who comes to indwell in the children of God the moment they confess their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. When the Spirit comes to fill us with Himself and take full control over us, we will have victory over fear. David had this confidence in God so that he could declare to the world that he will not be afraid and that he was sure that no one could do any thing to make him afraid.

Dear friend, are you gripped with the fear of the known or unknown things in and around you? Do you face threats from the people or circumstances around you which has taken away your confidence in life? The Bible keeps confirming to us that there is no need for us to be fearful about our future and our circumstances. Even though we do not have any control over these, we have a Lord who has absolute control over all the fearful elements or people around us. So when we face uncertainties, darkness, cruel people or unknown circumstances and future, there is no need for us to be fearful, but pass our fears over to the Lord. He will take it away from you and give you confidence to face any eventualities of life. He will be your shield against all fear and uncertainties. His Spirit will release you from all fears if you are willing to yield yourself to Him completely. God has promised that He will be with us and so there is no need for any fear about our future. He has planned our future according to His wisdom and desire and He has the power to fulfill it for His glory. When God has a plan for your tomorrows, which force in this universe can shatter it? That is why David is challenging the world around him that no one could do any thing to him. This is the confidence that the Lord gives to us and He expects us to put all our trust, confidence and faith in Him and His Word. So, my dear friend, no matter what uncertainties and fearful things threaten to take away your peace and confidence, you need not be afraid, but put your trust in the Lord to help you face it and come out victorious. He will give you sleep as in the case of Peter and David. He will reveal His glory in greater measure as you read His promises in the Bible, and His glory will take away your fear, apprehensions, anxieties, cares and discouragement and give you victory every step of the way.

Isaiah 43:1b- Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name; you are Mine.

Thought for Today
Trust is the panacea for all the variations of fear that confront us.

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The Purposeful Bottle of Tears

Verse for Today: Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Psalms 56:8 - You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

It is amazing to realize that God knows and sees His children with all their concerns, cares, and all the emotions attached to it. He is with them at their going out and coming in. His eyes see us when we wander around in confusion, fear of the unknown future or because of the apprehensions about the fierce enemies around us. When we roam and drift, with unsettled emotions, and in our lonely moments when we shed tears of despair, He sees us and has pity on us. When the Psalmist goes through such experiences, his only consolation is that the Lord knows it all and He sees his pitiful situation. In fact, as we wander around, singing songs of comfort with tears in our eyes, the Lord does two wonderful things for us. First, He measures and keeps our tears in His bottle so that these can be used for refreshing others who come after us on the same track with weary hearts. Our experiences are thus used by the Lord to reassure them that the Lord will touch their lives just as He has touched our lives, as we had gone before them. So even our cries are used by the Lord as a testimony for His mercy and compassion to His children. Secondly, our cries are recorded in His book in Heaven. These tears are valuable to Him because these tell the story of the lives of His children and how they were comforted by the Lord. We see such stories of the tears of Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ruth, Hannah, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Esther, Asaph, sons of Korah, Paul and scores of other children of God. These episodes in the lives of these children of God give us the confidence that we have a Father who hears our cries and sees our tears. Their stories reinforce our faith and trust in the Lord to keep crying and keep on shedding tears which are very valuable in His sight. When He sees our tears, His heart melts for us and He sympathizes with us. These tears put our needs and situations more strongly before the merciful Father about our heartaches and agonies. He will bring us back from our wanderings and settle our feet on the Rock to follow the way of the cross to go forward as His witnesses in this world.

Dear friend, are you wandering because you are out of focus with the narrow way in which you are placed by the Lord? Are you walking around because of a lack of clear understanding of the perfect will of the Father for you? Is your wandering because you are being distracted by the cares of life or the deceptions of the world and flesh for which you happened to have fallen? Are you being lured into comparing your misfortunes with the prosperity that you find among others who are far less godly than you are? Remember, you are called to walk the Calvary road and follow the footsteps of the Master. As you walk this narrow way, you will find difficult bends, with uneven surface, full of thorns and thistles and even sharp stones and glass peaces. You may also find the world and the flesh trying to mock you because you have chosen the difficult route when the broad way is just next door with all the comforts and enjoyment that the world could offer. But there is no need for you to look at that comfort zone and wonder, and wander away. You are called by the Lord to walk the Calvary road and suffer for the Master. You are placed as a rose or lily among the thorns. There might be wolves on the side of the track to terrorize you and the world offering to make you become prominent and popular on the broad way. But as you walk the difficult Calvary road, please remember that your Lord is with you and He is walking in front of you. He sees your struggles and tears. But He is holding you with His nail-pierced hands. It is a walk of tears. You can see the tears in His eyes as He cried for you at Gethsemane and on the cross. You are on this narrow way because He cried for you, and so it is only in the fitness of things if you cry in your sojourn. He knows all about it and wants to give you joy in spite of the tears in your eyes. He will wipe your tears and strengthen you to walk the extra mile for Him. Your tears are not wasted, but used by the Lord to strengthen others who are following the same path and coming after you. So, dear friend, take courage and be strong in the Lord and walk this road of your pilgrimage. Here you will find the Lord's comfort and peace, and you will see the results of your tears when you reach your destination.

Isaiah 25:8 - The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

Thought for Today
A tearful life of a child of God on earth is a fitting response to the Lord for the tears He shed on our behalf on the cross of Calvary and in the Garden of Gethsemane.

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A BURDEN BEARING PARTNERSHIP

Verse for Today: Monday, November 08, 2010
Psalms 55:17 - Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.

Prayers are most often need based. When we are in greater need, we tend to pray more often and more frequently. In our prayers, we often submit our supplications to the Lord with tears because we are moved by the burdens which we carry. It is most comforting to know that when we are in distress, we have a person to go to. He is our Lord and we are His dear people. We have the freedom to go to His presence as frequently as we need to unburden ourselves. There are things that we can tell Him that we dare not tell other human beings no matter how closely linked we are with them. We do not need any hesitation or embarrassment to share any of our most intimate needs and burdens with the Lord. He gives us a patient hearing and will respond according to the intensity of our needs. We see on the pages of the Bible about the intense prayers of God's people. Moses spoke to God whenever he had burdens which he was unable to handle himself. His burdens were the burdens of 2 million people and their cattle in the wilderness, and his Lord was sufficient for all of those burdens. Joshua also had the same burdens, along with all the enemies who were trying to devour them. Daniel had a pattern of praying three times a day and he continued to pray in this fashion even when threatened to be thrown into the dens of hungry lions. Hannah prayed in her distress to the extent to which the high priest thought she was out of her mind, but her Lord heard her and met the desires of her heart. Paul prayed almost all through the days of his life when he was not otherwise engaged in the ministry. There were times of distress in the lives of these men and women of God, and the more distress they experienced, the more they prayed. The Lord heard their prayers and answered them. These answers were not always outwardly success stories, but experiences of His peace, patience, maturity, endurance, calmness and joy. So no matter what happened in their scenarios, these saints lived with spiritual satisfaction and determination and kept on with their sojourn.

Dear friend, is your prayer life an indication of your deep needs in your life? Are there distressing situations in your life which you are not even able to share with others? Is your burden so heavy that you find it extremely difficult to carry it any more? There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God and you can go there and sit with the Lord, the two of you alone with each other, and talk about it. You can express yourself blatantly and without any limit and pour out all burdens at His presence. He will give you a very patient hearing, with perfect understanding. In fact, He understands you, your burdens and situations much better than you can understand it yourself, because He knows the full implications of your burdens. As you pray, the Lord helps you to release your emotions concerning the burdens and quieten your heart. He will comfort you with the promise that He is working on your burdens and will do the needful at the right time. He will give you the peace that passes all understanding. Perhaps in your intelligent mind, you might not be able to see how things could turn around because you might be thinking that your situation is impossible. But the Bible says that there is nothing impossible with your Lord and that He can do exceedingly great things to turn His children's lives around. So let us not loose heart, but go forward with courage and strength in the Lord. Let us not lean on to our own understanding and thinking, but on to the Lord. Let us meet with Him as often as we can and share our burdens relentlessly. Let us cry before Him and express our emotions with Him without embarrassment and reluctance. He will see our sincerity of heart in our burdens and show loving kindness and compassion and will send help from Heaven to lead us. He will lift our burdens up from us. When we submit our burdens to Him, they are no more our burdens, but His, and He will carry it for us. Today let us go to such a kind and compassionate Lord and unburden ourselves for His hand to hold us and take us forward.

Psalms 55:22 - Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.

Thought for Today
When we submit our burdens to the Lord in prayer, He becomes our partner in carrying our burdens.

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Answering Service: 24 X 7

Verse for Today: Sunday, November 07, 2010

Psalms 50:15 - Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you and you will honour Me.

It is fascinating to see the God of the universe coming to the puny little man and challenging him to call upon this great God in the face of his greatest troubles in life. God presents Himself as a willing, available and powerful God to meet man's needs no matter what they are. God also warns man that he will have times of troubles and difficulties. God guarantees that He is available for man to avail Him and His mighty power to rescue man no matter what the troubles are. God acknowledges that man lives in a world full of troubles which came upon man as a result of his sinfulness. When he disobeyed God and committed sin, man invited trouble to himself and all that he has. So today man has physical, financial, emotional and spiritual trouble. God reminds man that in order for man to qualify to call upon God, man has to first call upon God to remove his sin and curse by accepting God's provision for the salvation of his soul. Such people who have received God's forgiveness for their sins against God are those who have direct access to God at any time. This is because they are now born into the family of God and have become His children. As their Father, God is available and accessible to them for any of their needs. So when the children of God go through troubles of any nature, they have the privilege and prerogative to call upon God for help. They have a Heavenly Rescuer to approach to save them from physical, emotional, environmental and social troubles of various kinds because they live in a sinful world around them. The enemy of their soul will always try to create troubles of various kinds for them so that their Christian life can be a defeated life. The enemy will try to confuse their pathways and lure them to sidetrack from walking in the perfect will of God. The enemy will fight with them by using weapons of flesh and sin and thus try to plunge the child of God into despair. But the child of God does not need to wallow in despair, but to call upon God their Father and He will send help at the right time. He will rescue His children and will not allow them to be drowned in the sea billows of this world. He will help them solve their problems and come out victorious in the warfare they have with the enemy of their souls.

Dear friend, are you going through some trouble in your Christian life? Perhaps it is trouble from outside through other people used by the enemy. It could also be trouble in your soul through confusion, cares, doubt, indecision, worldliness, fleshly desires, behavioral problems like anger, irritability, moodiness, discord or conflicts with dear ones or at work place, or something else which is unique in your own situation. No matter what it is, you need to acknowledge it as a situation of trouble in your life which is hindering your spiritual life and from which you crave for a release. If the efforts you have taken to get out of your trouble have not yielded the desired results, it is better not to mess it up further by self management, but hand it over to your Father in Heaven. He is interested, willing and capable of handling it Himself and will be able to rescue you from the current situation. All you have to do is to call upon Him. He has promised to be available to those who call upon Him any time. It is still not too late for you to call upon Him in prayer and ask Him to come and help you out of the present mess that your life is in. If you hand your situations over to Him, you cannot also meddle with it at the same time. Once you hand your problems over to Him and allow Him full freedom to solve it for you, you can confidently take your hands off and leave it at the Throne of Grace. There is a solution for every difficulty in the Throne Room of the King of kings. As soon as you call upon the Lord, He will give orders to His servants in Heaven to get into your situation to clean up the mess and solve it according to the wisdom of the Father. Hand your life over to the Lord and see the world of changes that He can bring over to your situation for His glory. So when you get a release, you will know that it is fully because of the Father and not because of your smartness, and it will cause you to give all glory and honor to Him and Him alone.

Psalms 34:15 - The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.

Thought for Today
The Lord will not sit inactive when His beloved children cry unto Him in times of trouble.

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Mirage or Mystery

Verse for Today: Saturday, November 06, 2010

Psalms 49:5 - Why should I fear in the days of adversity when the iniquity of my foes surrounds me?

The life style of the foes of the people of God is to surround them with wicked ways. Their style comes from their master, Satan, who is only interested in terrorizing God's people. But when these wicked acts of the enemy come face to face with us, we need to remind ourselves that there is no need for us to be afraid of them. It is their tactic to attack us, but our prerogative not to be afraid of them. If only we keep our eyes open, we will be able to see the large array of protection forces that are around us. The army of Heaven encompasses around us. If we open our eyes of faith, we will be able to see chariots of fire around us. We have the tremendous power of the Spirit of God around us. There are so many of our dear ones who are praying for us and their fellowship in intercession is another layer of protection around us. Sometimes, we are down due to various reasons, but cannot be out because we are eternally secure in the hands of the Lord and no one can pluck us out from there. So adversity is no reason for us to be afraid, but when adversity strikes, we hold more firmly on to the Lord and renew our trust in Him each moment by moment. He will strengthen our souls and empower us to face these adversities with praise on our lips and smile on our face. We do not need to be upset when the wicked flourishes in this world because this is the only flourishing they can have. Unless they accept God's salvation through Jesus Christ, they will end up in eternal damnation. All the wealth or health they accumulate in this world in this life will perish here itself. On the other hand, we might be poor and in ill-health, but we are rich in Heaven and spiritually healthy which are most important. We should not make ungodly comparisons about the frustrating mirages of this world and become weary and fearful about our own situations.

Dear friend, is it likely that today you are weary about what is going on around you? Are you bewildered because of the attacks of the evil forces which are around you? Do you have the temptation to compare yourself with the wealth and well-being of the worldly people? These thoughts are the enemy's ploy to destabilize you and make you slowly drift from your strong faith in the Lord. When such debilitating thoughts come to you, lay it at the foot of the cross and leave it there. Ask the Lord in prayer to take away such discouraging thoughts and strengthen your faith. Seek the help of the Lord to open your eyes to see the chariots of fire which are around you to protect you. Look into the future which is prepared for you by the Lord and make these sublime thoughts control your minds about the glorious future He has prepared for you. All that you see around you among the wicked in terms of possessions and wealth, power, prestige and prominence will move away like a curtain and all those who depended on these temporal things will be in utter chaos and confusion and finally slip into eternal fire. But we will be ushered into a glorious eternity where we will enjoy all the blessings of the Heavenly places with our Lord. Our enemies will not be there to trouble us any more. There won't be any more gossip, treachery, animosity, trials, adversities or ill-health there. It is a land without night and we will be in eternal bliss. Let us live this life as a pilgrimage, suffer the heat of this wilderness journey and await the glorious eternity where we will soon be ushered into. All our tears will be wiped and all our heartaches will be removed from us permanently when we are with the Lord in this blessed eternity in Heaven. So dear friend, there is no need for us to be afraid, but let us look to the future with a smile and with exciting expectation about our blessed future which is an awaiting mysterious reality far beyond any imagination.

Hebrews 11:16 - 30 - They were glad when (the sea) grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven.

Thought for Today
Life is not a race to grab the best the world can offer, but a sojourn to our glorious home city which we already possess.

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Wanted: People of Praise

Verse for Today: Friday, November 05, 2010

Psalms 48:9 We have thought of Your loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple.

We are all in the same state as that of the writers of this Psalm who were the children of disobedience and rebellion. So it is a miracle that they are now in the temple of the Lord to praise Him and pray to Him. As they come to the temple and enjoy the magnificence of the presence of the Lord, they are wonder struck about the miracle of their entry into the temple. They would have been normally forbidden to enter the temple had it not been because of the loving kindness of the Lord. They are now enabled to sing in the temple as they participate in the worship of the Lord. Their enabling to sing is once again because the Lord has shown kindness to them by removing their disqualifications in becoming insiders to the temple of God. Just like these sons of Korah, we all have so much to be thankful to the Lord for all that He has done for us. We can go to Him with boldness and courage which are given to us as God's children, through rebirth into His family. We now call God our Father in Heaven and submit our worship, adoration, petitions and prayers to Him. We have the right to expect answers from Him, by virtue of His loving kindness. When we are in the presence of the Lord, we are constantly reminded that we are there by His grace, mercy and loving kindness. In His mercy He did not give us hell which we deserved, and in His grace He has enabled us entry into His holy presence in Heaven which we never deserved. This is what gives us boldness to enter into the presence of God with our petitions and prayers. On the other side, our Lord is waiting for us to go to His presence with our needs, desires, priorities, failures and difficulties and present all of it to Him without any reservation. We can speak to Him in childlike simplicity and express our concerns and anguishes to Him with all the freedom that a child can enjoy with his or her human father. But this Father is far greater in patience, love and concern than any human fathers would have because of His greater power to fulfill the desires of His children. As we sit in His presence, we experience the thrill to think that we are fortunate to have such a great and most benevolent Father who knows all about us and is ready and resourceful to meet all our needs and solve all our problems for us.

Dear friend, if there is any reason why your prayers are not answered, it is not because the Father is not able to give you, because of your inadequate asking and your lack of importunity. If you think that your problems are too big and your needs are so vast that no one can meet it, then such a thinking might pull you back from presenting all your needs to God. You also need to ask with great expectations which are your privilege as the child of this great Father. You should ask, with full faith that He is capable and willing to meet all your needs. You need the conviction that He has all the resourcefulness that is required to meet your innermost needs. So you and I can go to Him with importunity, full faith and trust in Him. If you doubt, you have developed a double mind and that will prevent the answers from coming to you. There is no need for you to waver as you ask your Father who is willing and able to give you far more than you ever ask. His schedules are perfect and He gives abundantly. So when you go to His presence, you may go with the conclusion that your needs are being met by Him and so could start praising Him for what He is yet to give you because this is an absolute certainty. You can think about His loving kindness in all that He has done for you and all that you can be absolutely sure to get from Him in the future. So when you are in His presence, don't be tempted to think about your needs, but about the loving kindness of your Lord because He has already given you what you need, and it is on its way to reach you at the right time and place in the right measure. If you know how great a giver this Father is, then you will not have the temptation to grumble in His presence, but to praise Him for all that has happened and is going to take place in your life.

Hebrews 10:23 - Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

Thought for Today
God's presence is a place of praise for our past, present and future, and not a complaint box to throw in all our dissatisfaction.

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