365 Blessings- August 16

With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. (Psalm 60:12) (Psalm 108:13)

Under attack from the enemy again? Fear not, with God you will gain the victory! The Bible says,

"The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. (Isaiah 42:13)"

Your enemy, Satan will not gain victory over you.

We may encounter wicked men and women in our lives. Even the apostle Paul faced such situations. And this is what he wrote to the Thessalonians.

And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:2, 3)

Yes, the Lord who has called you is faithful; he will not leave you nor forsake you. He will strengthen you by his mighty arms.

The power behind evil people is Satan and we can gain victory over his evil powers by standing firm in the Word, by praying with faith and trusting in the Lord.

The Bible says,

"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. (Deuteronomy 33:26)

To you he says,

"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, 'Destroy him!' (Deuteronomy 33:27)".

You can confidently say what the Psalmist said,

The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies. (Psalm 118:7)

365 Blessings- August 15

Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said: "We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you." So David received them and made them leaders of his raiding bands. (1 Chronicles 12:18)

Loneliness can kill sometimes and David experienced that in his life after fleeing from Saul. Yet God arranged for brave men to team up with him and fight his enemies.

Sometimes in our Christian walk, we may encounter loneliness. Perhaps even when we have all our relations nearby, we may feel lonely because there is no one to say a kind word to us.

The Apostle Paul yearned for Christian friends; he wrote to Timothy:

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. (2 Timothy 4:9-11)

David was suspicious of the fellows wanting to join him too, because one of them could tell Saul of his whereabouts. In such circumstances David trusted in the Lord.

To some he said,

"If you have come to me in peace, to help me, I am ready to have you unite with me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free from violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you." (1 Chronicles 12:17)

The words of Amasai must have strenghened David a lot.

Amasai said,

"We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you."

If you are feeling lonely today, I pray that the Lord gives you Christian friends who speak kindly to you and strengthen you with their words and actions. 

365 Blessings- August 14

He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. (Psalm 107:29)

Imagine God the father putting his finger to His lips and saying "Hush" to a storm that is raging.

That's what He's going to do about the storms that are lashing at your life.

Do you believe that?

Perhaps you are at your wit's end with all the problems that have befallen you.

They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end. (Psalm 107:27)

Here’s something that happened sometime back:

One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. (Luke 8:22-24)

Nothing seems to be working right for you?

You've been crying out to the Lord for deliverance but haven't seen much/any!!!

Well, don't stop crying out because He's going to still the storms in your life to a whisper.

You are going to say what the disciples said when Jesus calmed the storm in front of their eyes. This is what they said,

"Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (Mark 4:41)

365 Blessings- August 13

By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13:21, 22)

These verses demonstrate the faithfulness of God in that the Lord never left them even for a moment during all the wilderness years of his people. Anyone looking up and ahead could know for sure that God was with him/her.

The change of the nature of His presence with them must have been so spectacular initially (cloud changing to fire), but as is oft happens, they must have considered it routine later on. An "It's always been there" attitude must have eventually crept in. So it must be in some of our own lives now.

Do we take the presence of God in our lives for granted and consider it routine and without importance?

We must not. We must always remember what the prophet Jeremiah wrote;

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23)

"The compassions of God never fail; they are new every morning."

Yes, His compassions are new every morning.

He has compassion on you everytime you call out to Him (your father in heaven). He is still the same & unchanging God who is faithful forever.

The Israelites saw the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and still they did not trust in Him often.

Jesus said,

".......blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29)"

Day or night, He's always there, whether you feel it or not. So believe.

365 Blessings- August 12

Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.

Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." (Genesis 21:3, 6)

Finally a time for the Abraham family to rejoice. To have a hearty laugh.

If, Abraham when 99 and Sarah 89 were asked when they had really enjoyed laughing and rejoicing from the depths of their hearts, they would have said, "If only God's promise had materialized, we could."

The one thing they desired was the one thing that was withheld and it caused a lot of heartbreak, anxiety & tensions.

Now with the evidence of the promise in their hands, they laughed and even named their son Isaac which means "he laughs".

Sarah even imagines people talking and laughing;

"Oh, Sarah, she's finally a mom."

"Sarah & Abraham, they finally did it."

"Wonder what took them so long."

When the promise takes a long time to materialize, the joy it brings when it materializes finally is something just out of the world.

Have you been waiting for God's promise to materialize? Do you feel God is doing nothing about what he promised you?

Even when you don't see any signs of the promise being fulfilled, remember, God is at work.

Jesus said,

"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17)"

You are going to laugh like Sarah & Abraham when the promise is fulfilled.