THE LORD GOES BEFORE YOU

By Paul Dhinakaran

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways    (Psalm 91:11)

Dearly beloved,

First of all, in Exodus 23:20, the Lord says, "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” The Lord Jesus said, "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).

According to the above Scriptures, first of all, God sends an angel to go before you. The angels of the little ones who have committed themselves to God always see the face of the Father in heaven. Not only the little children, but all those who accept the Lord Jesus like a child become part of heaven. So when you give your life to Him and accept Him as your Father, you become a little child in His sight and become a partaker of heaven. The Lord said, in Isaiah 45:2-5, “I will go before you and will level the mountains…I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places.”

When the Lord sends His angels before you, He first says, “I will guard you in all the things you do, in all your ways and all through your life. You shall be protected by Me.” The ark of the Lord was kept in the house of Obed-Edom. Because of the ark of the Lord, He blessed him and his entire household and protected them. The Bible says, “The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household” (II Samuel 6:11,12).

David came to know about the Lord blessing Obed-Edom. So he went and brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. Because of that, the Lord blessed him and his entire household. When he passed through the enemies’ camp, He caused a deep sleep to fall on all the men of war in the enemy camp (I Samuel 26:12). Nobody was aware that he had passed by them. The Lord protected him. Dear one, the Lord will go before you and protect you and everything that belongs to you. You need not fear. You need not fear thinking, “Will I fall into sin? Will my family fall into sin? Will I lose my job? Will I become weak and die?’ The angel of God will go before you and take care of everything. He will protect you.

David the Psalmist says, “…He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). The eyes of the Lord are always watching His beloved children and His ears are attentive to their cry for help. He will never allow your foot to slip for His angels are always beside you to preserve you.

A VESSEL OF GOD’S LOVE

By Paul Dhinkaran

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.    (1 John 4:11)

Dearly beloved,

The Lord says, “I will go before you and will level the mountains” (Isaiah 45:2).

My precious friend, the Lord has chosen you as His vessel for the blessing of millions of people.

For the first time in 1962, when the Lord spoke to my father face to face, He said, “My son, I fill you with My love and compassion. When you hear the misery of people and when they share their problems with you, your heart will melt. Love and compassion will flow from your heart and you will cry out for them. Seeing your tears, I, Jesus, will wipe away their tears. For this purpose, I have anointed you today.”

Yes, truly the Lord loves the people. He loves those who are filled with His love and who love Him.

Dear one, you too love the people, being filled with the love of Christ. To wipe away the tears of the millions, you have united with the Lord Jesus. You have been called and chosen to be a channel of God’s blessing to others.

The Lord Jesus has called me and my entire family too just as how He called my father. The same Lord has called you too and has chosen you to be vessel of comfort to brokenhearted people. Today we are loved by the Lord Jesus and He is with us; our family is blessed. As a family, you are going to receive the same blessing.

The Bible says, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). God is love; when you have a close fellowship with Him, you will be able to know the magnitude of His love. Then you will be able to love others just as He loved them.

Learning from Trials

By Greg Laurie

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1: 2-4)

But the fact is, we don't have that option. Trials will come into the lives of every believer. Notice that James says, "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials." The phrase various trials could also be translated "many-colored trials" or "trials of many kinds." In other words, no two trials or experiences are necessarily alike.

You will be tested. The question is, will you pass or fail?

We must remember that God never tests us without a reason. God's ultimate purpose is to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. God wants to produce a family likeness in us. This means that some difficulties and testings will show us immediate results, while others will produce long-term ones.

There are times when I can emerge from a trial, look back, and say, "I learned this when I went through that experience." But there will be other times when I come through a difficulty, and all I will be able to do is shake my head and say, "What was that all about?" I may not be able to tell you (at that moment) what I have learned.

But what has happened, maybe unnoticed by me, is that I have become a little bit more like Jesus. He has worked in my life to mold me and shape me into His own image. It may be hard or impossible to point to definitive results in our lives after a time of pressure, setbacks, or testing. Even so, we can know that God is in control. And we can know that His ultimate purpose is to conform us into the image of His own dear Son.

Carman - All In Life

Turn It Up - Planetshakers

A GENTLE HEART

By Paul Dhinakaran

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.    (Proverbs 4:23)

Dearly beloved,

God will give you a new heart!

The Lord Jesus said, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). So we must have a heart like that of the Lord Jesus!

"…Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19): this is the definition of a defiled heart as spelt out in the Bible.

The Bible relates, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there" (Matthew 12:43-45).

What these verses imply is that certain hearts are rid of the stains of the sin, cleansed by the blood of Christ; then the hearts are empty and clean, completely cleared of the deeds of the evil one. Immediately they should be filled up by God’s Spirit and thoughts fulfilling His will. If not, the evil one, with its seven fold evil forces, will enter into the vacant heart and wreck the man’s life.

Only for this reason, God tests our hearts to see whether they are gentle and lowly or vacant and subject to any evil design. This is the situation in which everyone should analyze his own heart. As an example, consider what David the Psalmist did: He praised God saying, “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me” (Psalm 16:7). Moreover, he lamented: “…my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered” (Psalm 73:21). Apart from that, he said, “Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind” (Psalm 26:2).

When we want to know why God tests our hearts, we will find the answer in what He says in Jeremiah 17:10: "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Understanding God’s ways, Jeremiah himself cries out: “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are the One I praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).

Let us open up our hearts and surrender ourselves at His feet, pleading with Him all the while: “O Lord, help me to keep my mind worthy of Your standard.”

The Bible says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Set your heart on the right path so God’s goodness will fill your heart and flow out to others, bringing glory to His name.