Strength in hard times!
Stella Dhinakaran
He gives power to the weak, and
to those who have no might He increases
strength. (Isaiah 40:29)
Beloved, when problems assail
us, even the mightiest man on earth will become weak and crumble. The spirit of
man becomes lean and he succumbs to the pressures of problems he faces. The key
to receive strength in your spirit is to wait on the Lord and act in His time.
The Bible says, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29).
The Bible speaks about Job, a devout man of God who was the greatest person of the East (Job 1:1-3). The Lord tested him and he lost all his possessions and ten children in a day. He refused to turn against God when such a catastrophe befell him but said, “I will trust Him” (Job 13:15). When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). The Lord found him to be faithful and He turned the captivity of Job restoring his losses and gave him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:1).
In another instance from the Bible David and his men were away from the city of Ziklag, when their enemy, the Amalekites, took away the women and children as captive and set the city on fire. When David and his men returned, they were shocked to see how the Amalekites ruined their city and their families. They wept until they thad no strength to weep. David became greatly distressed when he heard his men speaking of stoning him. Nevertheless, David strengthened himself in the Lord and God told him to pursue the Amalekites. David obeyed the Lord and he with his men recovered all that he had lost-nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them (1 Samuel 30:1-20).
In my life, my husband was affected with a lung disease and was bedridden in 1969. The doctor, who tested him said, "He would die within a month; yet the Lord whom you serve will not let you down.” I was encouraged a little by these words. I ran to the presence of the Lord and began to pray fervently. He heard my prayer and did a miracle. Apart from healing my husband, He also made the “Jesus Calls” Gospel Ministry to spread worldwide.
Yes, I strengthened myself in the Lord in my hard times and the Lord gave me victory over the crisis. The Lord who gave strength to those who waited on Him and gave them victory, will also do the same to you and reward you with blessings in the end.
The Bible says, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29).
The Bible speaks about Job, a devout man of God who was the greatest person of the East (Job 1:1-3). The Lord tested him and he lost all his possessions and ten children in a day. He refused to turn against God when such a catastrophe befell him but said, “I will trust Him” (Job 13:15). When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). The Lord found him to be faithful and He turned the captivity of Job restoring his losses and gave him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:1).
In another instance from the Bible David and his men were away from the city of Ziklag, when their enemy, the Amalekites, took away the women and children as captive and set the city on fire. When David and his men returned, they were shocked to see how the Amalekites ruined their city and their families. They wept until they thad no strength to weep. David became greatly distressed when he heard his men speaking of stoning him. Nevertheless, David strengthened himself in the Lord and God told him to pursue the Amalekites. David obeyed the Lord and he with his men recovered all that he had lost-nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them (1 Samuel 30:1-20).
In my life, my husband was affected with a lung disease and was bedridden in 1969. The doctor, who tested him said, "He would die within a month; yet the Lord whom you serve will not let you down.” I was encouraged a little by these words. I ran to the presence of the Lord and began to pray fervently. He heard my prayer and did a miracle. Apart from healing my husband, He also made the “Jesus Calls” Gospel Ministry to spread worldwide.
Yes, I strengthened myself in the Lord in my hard times and the Lord gave me victory over the crisis. The Lord who gave strength to those who waited on Him and gave them victory, will also do the same to you and reward you with blessings in the end.
The Problem with Self
By Greg
Laurie
But mark this: There will be terrible times
in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of
money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, 3 without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the
good, 4 treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. 2
Timothy 3:1-4
We are
living in a culture that is completely self-absorbed. Consider these stats:
- The Incidence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their twenties as for the generation that's now 65 or older.
- 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982.
- 40% of Millennials believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance.
In the 1970s, people wanted to improve their kids' chances, so the "self-esteem" movement was born. We were told that all of the social ills of the day were due to low self-esteem, and that we all needed to learn to love ourselves more.
As one expert said, "The problem is that when people tried to boost self-esteem, they boosted narcissism instead. All that self-esteem leads them to be disappointed when the world refuses to affirm how great they know they are."
So, we enter into our marriages saying things like: "What's in it for me?" and "What about my needs?" This leads to such inane statements as "I'm no longer happy in this marriage," and "I need to find myself!"
Where does this selfishness come from? "Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves" (James 4:1–2 MSG).
This is something the Bible says would be a sign of the end times: "You should know this, that in the last days, there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves . . ." (2 Timothy 3:1–2 NLT).
So, what is the antidote to selfishness? It is selflessness!
Philippians 2:2–8 tells us3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (NKJV)
THANK GOD FOR EVERYTHING!
By Stella Dhinakaran
In
everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for
you (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Once, a
man of God from England had gone to Africa to do ministry. He proclaimed about
the Lord to the people who absolutely had no knowledge of the Lord and turned
many towards the Lord. Observing this, the village headman was greatly annoyed
due to jealousy and planned to kill the man of God.
He cunningly invited him home and gave him a feast, mixing poison in the food. But the Pastor, after praying over the food saying, “Lord, bless this food; sanctify it and strengthen me as I eat it” started eating it. The Lord, who heard the prayer, completely nullified the toxic effect of the poison in that food. So no harm befell him. The village headman’s heart was broken seeing this and he realized that the pastor was truly a man of God. After that he too accepted the Lord as his personal Saviour and made it possible for the Pastor to spread the Gospel throughout the village.
My dear beloved, do not worry saying, “Alas, I have this terrible disease; I am unable to bear this”. The Lord is still alive to give you perfect healing. His strength will be made perfect in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“He (the Lord) will bless your bread and your water…..” (Exodus 23:25).
According to the scripture, pray before you have your food saying, “Lord, thank You for this food which You have given; bless it and sanctify it” and then consume the food, you need to be aware that the Lord sanctifies it by His Word and prayer. Yes my beloved! if you are thankful to God in everything as stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” God will certainly give you what you have thanked Him for!
He cunningly invited him home and gave him a feast, mixing poison in the food. But the Pastor, after praying over the food saying, “Lord, bless this food; sanctify it and strengthen me as I eat it” started eating it. The Lord, who heard the prayer, completely nullified the toxic effect of the poison in that food. So no harm befell him. The village headman’s heart was broken seeing this and he realized that the pastor was truly a man of God. After that he too accepted the Lord as his personal Saviour and made it possible for the Pastor to spread the Gospel throughout the village.
My dear beloved, do not worry saying, “Alas, I have this terrible disease; I am unable to bear this”. The Lord is still alive to give you perfect healing. His strength will be made perfect in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“He (the Lord) will bless your bread and your water…..” (Exodus 23:25).
According to the scripture, pray before you have your food saying, “Lord, thank You for this food which You have given; bless it and sanctify it” and then consume the food, you need to be aware that the Lord sanctifies it by His Word and prayer. Yes my beloved! if you are thankful to God in everything as stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” God will certainly give you what you have thanked Him for!
False Alarms and Idiot Lights
By Greg
Laurie
Our
smoke alarm went off the other night at 4:00 A.M. I jumped out of bed and was
ready to take action. Turns out the unit malfunctioned. (Why does it always go
off at 4:00 A.M. and not P.M.?)
Because of incidents like this, we tend to tune out alarms. Who even looks when a car alarm goes off in a parking structure? We assume it's just someone trying to find their car.
One alarm you do not want to ignore is the fuel light in your car. If you do, you will come to a complete stop. You can't run on fumes.
Many marriages today are "running on empty." They have not taken hold of the power that's available; they're not operating by the principles given in the User's Manual. Remember, God invented marriage. And there is a right and wrong way to do it.
Happy, strong, and lasting marriages don't happen by accident. Marriage is something that to be good and fulfilling takes the right ingredients. It is the result of effort on the part of the partners involved.
Marriage is not so much finding the right person as it is being the right person. But all of this is to be done with God's help. A strong and happy marriage is the result of obedience to God and His Word and laying aside this world's distorted "take it or leave it" concept of marriage.
If we want to have the closest thing to "heaven on earth" apart from Christ's return—if we want a marriage and family that succeeds, we must do it as He tells us to.
It's all in the "User's Manual of Life," the Bible.
Because of incidents like this, we tend to tune out alarms. Who even looks when a car alarm goes off in a parking structure? We assume it's just someone trying to find their car.
One alarm you do not want to ignore is the fuel light in your car. If you do, you will come to a complete stop. You can't run on fumes.
Many marriages today are "running on empty." They have not taken hold of the power that's available; they're not operating by the principles given in the User's Manual. Remember, God invented marriage. And there is a right and wrong way to do it.
Happy, strong, and lasting marriages don't happen by accident. Marriage is something that to be good and fulfilling takes the right ingredients. It is the result of effort on the part of the partners involved.
Marriage is not so much finding the right person as it is being the right person. But all of this is to be done with God's help. A strong and happy marriage is the result of obedience to God and His Word and laying aside this world's distorted "take it or leave it" concept of marriage.
If we want to have the closest thing to "heaven on earth" apart from Christ's return—if we want a marriage and family that succeeds, we must do it as He tells us to.
It's all in the "User's Manual of Life," the Bible.
In the Potter's Hands
By Greg Laurie
Then the LORD gave me this message: "O Israel, can I
not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand." Jeremiah 18:5-6
The prophet Jeremiah describes a trip he took to
the potter's house, where God spoke to him:
The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, "Go down to the potter's shop, and I will speak to you there." So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
Then the LORD gave me this message: "O Israel,
can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand." (Jeremiah 18:1–6)
We are like clay in the Potter's hands. There are things God is doing in our lives, and we have a choice: We can respond to His working, or we can resist His working. We can yield to what He wants us to do, or we can disobey when He tells us to do something.
As we continue reading the story of Jeremiah and his visit to the potter's house, we find a description of a field with cracked pots, vases, and wreckage. These were things that didn't work out, so the potter took them and threw them into the field.
Life is like that. There are people who flex and move and go the way that God wants them to, and they turn into what God wants them to be. Then there are people who resist and say no to God. They self-destruct, and their lives end up in ruins, like broken pottery in a field.
God has a plan for your life. The question is this: Will you work with God's plan, or will you resist it?
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