Daily Thought – Do we really know His name?
Word: And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:10.
Thought: We know of many names of the Lord, but do we go to the Lord when we have problems are we rush to get the world to help us. David has tasted the goodness of the Lord and really understood all the different names of the Lord and hence put His trust only on God when troubles surrounded him from all corners. He also understands that God could take care of any situation, no matter how close or far at the moment we call Him as long as we have Him close and put our trust in Him – He will not forsake us. It does not means the distance will be shorter, but he will be the light to guide us through, As the Lord said to Moses “I am who I am” – He is the “I AM X” in each of our like and depending on our situation, He will be the X we need. Let us remember though that we are not calling a servant, but our master for help and hence not command the Lord on what needs to be done since He is aware of things seen and unseen and will provide the best solution in His sovereignty on what is needed and not accordingly to the crude narrow understanding we have on the situation, Let us call upon the Lord in the day of trouble and see Him deliver us and help us magnify His name.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to understand you more, that I will be able to trust in you in every situation of my life as nothing is bog for you and you will deliver us in any time of distress and trouble. Amen.
Daily Thought – You are not your own!!
Word: Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20.
Thought: Many a times we live a life our own style and don’t give heed to the spirit which is indwelling in us because we think we are on our own and do not realize that we are not our own and we have been bought for a price which is precious blood of Christ. If we have this thought in our mind, we will never we able to walk in the flesh and continue to sin in the way the world leads us to. Today, if you are able to comfortably sin and think you continue to walk in Christ camouflaged, beware – stop and think if the spirit of God is in you, since when the spirit which is of God is in us, the body would also be in accordance to it and we cannot continually sin against the body, The body is the temple of God and when His spirit resides in us, we would not be able act according to the world, but be led by the spirit. Let us remember the precious blood which was shed in calvary for our redemption and when we realize that we were bought by the price, we will tend to live the way the master wants us to and not consider to master our own selves which does not belong to us.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for buying me through your precious blood. Help me to live in a way your spirit wants me to and let my body be controlled by the spirit of God. Submit to you this moment that you will lead me through and let me not be guided by the world. Amen.
Daily Thought – Is Joy of the Lord your strength?
Word: Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10b
Thought: What brings us joy and where does our happiness and strength come from? Is it from our worldly possessions and positions or is it from doing the will of God in our lives? Jesus was extremely happy and joyous to do the will of His father, Paul counted it all joy to do the good work God had set for him which was his strength. We feel weak when our joy comes from the things of the world, but when we consider it nothing and take upon His burden (which is light) which brings joy to Him we will be made strong through Him. Christ was able to endure difficulties in His stint on earth, before of the strength to do what was counted ‘Joy of the Lord’. Here, when the people heard they were poor in the spirit, they grieved, but it was the joy the Lord which made them strong and rejoice in the Lord. When we feel down and low and with a contrite heart come to the feet of the Lord, he is in control and when we be and do in accordance to His will (his joy), then it is counted as strength to us.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to count it all joy in things which you rejoice in and we are able to bank on the good works you have in store for us, that we will be able to strong in you and be a testimony for you. Amen.
Daily Thought – Enduring to be a soldier!!
Word: You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2: 3,4.
Thought: In our day to day lives we have the challenge of loosing few pleasures to live a life for Christ, but we are called to endure these as a soldier of Christ because the place we are in is only the battlefield and we need to win over the world and try to win the world for Him. Just as a soldier who does not entangle himself on his own pleasures, we are also called to live in a way which is pleasing in His sight. We are ambassadors of Christ in the place where He has placed us – our workplace is one of the important battlefield for us: we have different affairs of life which is pleasing to the eyes and ears. good to do, but are we abstaining ourselves – it might be a gossip to a marketing white lie to a eye pleasing work or a social drink or pleasure which the world calls as fashion. We, as a soldier of Christ are called to live a life which is pleasing to Him who has enlisted us a soldier and we should not adapt to the walks of the world which should be the alien nation for the soldier of Christ.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to walk in you and to live a life which is pleasing in thy sight. Help me not to the entangled by the works of the world, but lean on you and bear good fruit in you. Amen.
Daily Thought – God in the midst of troubles!!
Word: Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
Thought: It has been years since the great destruction of the world trade center happened on this day and now there is greater devastation in the form of hurricane Irma. May of us have this question in our mind at times, if there is a good God, then why do these happen and why does He allow this in our lives. But to us, we should be able to see God in the midst of all these situations and in order for us to see God in the midst, it is very important for us to be still and see the hand of God in action. It is not just about global destruction, there are many such situations in our daily lives as well – Do we see the troubles are big or our God in control and bigger than our troubles and situations. In this chapter the psalmist sees all the great destruction and then remains still to see the hand of God and His name exalted above everything among all the nations. As we are nearing the end times, the bible clearly tells us that the troubles are going to increase, so let us not question God on why there is trouble, but rather be still and see God in the midst of trouble and destruction.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to remain still and see you in the midst of our trouble and tribulation. We pray for your hand to be in the midst of the people who are suffering from various kinds of destruction. Help us to remain in you and shine in the troubled times that people around us might see you in us. Amen.
