Recognition In Place of Criticism

"Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron. Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones. I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler."
Isaiah 60:17

When we trust God alone to be our evrything, He will be all-sufficient to us, replacing our worthless stuff with precious ones, unimportant with significant and feeble with potent. We will gain recognition in place of criticism. Our glory will be His honor. Not only that, He promises that we will be dominated by peace and righteousness and there will be no more oppression.

A Thorough Wash

"..As waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.."
2 Samuel 5:20

We often find rivals coming up against our progress in life - to discourage, irritate, change our focus, cause pain and finally make us feel defeated. Let us focus on the facets of God and not on the attack on the attacker. Let us rely on the strength and counsel of God and not on ours. He will thoroughly knock out any attack like the force of waters breaks even the banks of the rivers and carries away all that hinders it's course of flow.

Face Any Challenge With God

"Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame."
Isaiah 50:7

We need a mind to endure any degree of pain and the courage to face any challenge. Whatever disrespect and hatred we may face, God assures us of His comapanionship. Let us never be frightened to face the opponent, because God will be our help and our end will never be a disappointment but a great delight.

Never Alone

"Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted."
Psalm 25:16

Though God has promisd to be with us always, we at times feel solitary, forsaken and wretched. The fact is that though we are surrounded by a crowd of people, we rely totally on God as if we have none. So when God keeps silent, we feel abandoned. But let us never feel let down but keep calling on Him again and again. When He turns to us, no matter who turns away from us. He is the One who can understand the depth of our solitude. Let us pour out our thoughts and feelings to Him and wait for His mercy and grace.

In God We Live, Move And Be

"..in Him we live and move and have our being."
Acts 17:28

God is the source of life and He upholds evreything concerning our life, including the bounds of our habitation (v.26). He knows all our movements and even understands our thoughts.He knows our words even before we utter. He very well knows our frame of bones from head to toe whether inetrnal or external. But we do not even the very next step God has in plan for us. So let us submit to His purpose and be at rest.

Easily Helps Us Out

"..Lord, there is no one like You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on You.."
2 Chronicles 14:11

To call on God during our difficulty is the wisest thing to do. There is nothing hard for the Lord. He can get us out of our gigantic problem as easily as a petty one. He can provide us with extremely large favor as easily as a penny. He can heal our monstrous disease as easily as a head ache. Let us just pray and rest on Him.

We Will Be Aggrandized

"..Praise be to the God..who sent His angel and rescued His servants; they trusted in Him..and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God."
Daniel 3:28

Let us entrust ourselves totally to God's charge and care and be determined not to disregard Him in any footing. This determination will at last gain dignity of the rival. The same men who chose to tear us down will choose to aggrandize us. We serve a God who is able to sustain us from all troubles and deliver us marvelously.

Supersede Rue With Grace

"..bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."
Isaiah 61:3

The Almighty God affords us a great trade, i.e to withdraw our ruins and carcasses and dignify us with charm and delight. His plan is not to promote the lofty but to bestow unfathomable favor on His depleted ones. Let us not lose heart even if we are disfigured with agony. The Lord will interpose with His abundant mercy to supersede our rue with His grace

Enjoy His Presence, Favor And Communion

"..You have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."
Psalm 56:13

We are surrounded by men who try to swallow us up and fight with us every now and then. But God knows our every step and counts our every tear. When we call out on God, our rebels will turn back. When we trust God, we need not dread men. He graciously rescues us from all hazards and retains us from taking any wrong way so that we may walk in the way that pleases God and enjoy His presence, favor and communion.

Elevation And Expansion

"..He lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks."
Psalm 107:41

God respects our afflictions and does not ignore them (22:24). He raises us out of our depressions and defends us. He never lets us break down but encourages us. He never lets us feel deserted but loves and befriends us and incorporates us into families and plugs us with harmonious people. He then blesses our families and multiplies and glorifies us.

Blockers Terminated

"No man will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as He promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go."
Deuteronomy 11:25

When we love God and walk in His ways(v.22), nothing can stop our progress. He will bless all the works of our hands. He will help us beat down those things that resist our advancement and wipe them off totally so that they will never be remembered or even made mention of any more (7:24). Men who see and hear of the amazing things that God does for us will be alarmed of us. Anything that blocks our betterment will be terminated.

Flourish By His Grace, Take Root With God

"I will be like a dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots."
Hosea 14:5

We need the downpour of God's grace to survive and grow. But God does not pour down His grace and favor once for all, but day by day so that we are renewed each day and feel refreshed. This favor should help us demonstrate His pure love and fragrance to others around and keep us deep-rooted with God so that we can never be moved by any trials or tribulations.

Be Ecstatic Parents

"His soul shall dwell at ease; and his descendants shall inherit the earth."
Psalm 25:13

The fear of God (v.12) makes us fearless against any other apprehension and makes us abide in comfort, peace, joy and safety even amidst our pains. We will also cherish the abundance of all good things spiritually and physically. When our children are God-fearing, God will bless them with health, wealth and success and establish them. He will make us ecstatic parents, with no need to bother about the sustenance of our children because He will take total care of them.

Declare And Acquire

"..I believed; therefore I have spoken.."
2 Corinthians 4:13

If we believe in God and His ability, we have to express our trust in Him by speaking it out. If our heart is filled with faith in Him, our mouth should declare it so. When God spoke, it was done; when He commanded, it stood fast (Psa.33:9). Our words of faith too has the power to accomplish. Let us strongly believe in the promises of God and profess them aloud in times of need and distress. Let us rely on God and speak out our faith in Him with no doubt or hesitation.

Survival Of The Deadliest

"..the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."
Romans 4:17

We serve a God who created lives on earth when there was none. He can perfectly guarantee the existence of things that do not exist, as though they already are an actuality. He is the One that declares the future before it even happens (Isa.46:10) and knows about all His works right from the beginning (Acts 15:18). Even when things seem impossible to us ,God can make it a reality.

Sweetest Blessing Out Of Our Hardest Woe

"..you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
Psalm 81:16

Our Father God who spared not His Son Jesus Christ, who is our Bread of life and our Rock of salvation, will spare nothing precious to us when we are acceptable to Him. He will satisfy us with the sweetest blessing out of our hardest woe. He knows what would be pleasant, dearest and best for us and bestow it on us in His time.

God Refines And Then Sets Everything Right

"..you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; He hears it, He will answer you."
Isaiah 30:19

There are times when we do not understand what is going around and why such awful things befall in our lives. But God permits certain scenes in our lives to capture our attention, fashion us to His design and turn us totally towards Him. Once this is done, He bounces to hear our cry, wipe our tears, strengthen us and set everything right.

Commit Our Breath To God

"..may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble."
1 Samuel 26:24

Let us never expect justice, love and care from men but from God. We ought to respect, pardon and care for others but be wise in our dealings with them because we are as sheep among wolves in this world. Though we do not need to fear men, we need to be prudent. Let us pray that our life is precious to God who controls everything. He will never forsake or let us down but make us triumph and do bigger things for Him.

Short-lived Grief But Long-lasting Joy

"..There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while."
1 Peter 1:6

Our hearts may be so heavy with extreme grief that penetrates deep within our soul and the heaviness may seem to weaken us day by day. There may be many reasons for our misery - extreme need, sickness, oppression, loss of a dear one, etc. But let us not lose our peace and our hope of eternity because our grief is transient and is permitted by God to cleanse and strengthen us and to give us praise, honor and glory at His coming (v.7).

Metamorphosis

"The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power..and you will be changed into a different person."
1 Samuel 10:6

God demands that we walk in the "newness of life" (Romans 6:4), distinctive from the world in our walk, talk, aims and preferences. With the influence of the Spirit of God on us, we will turn out to be quite another person in our external appearance as well as in the aptitude of our mind, with a total change in our mental ability and activity. Let us therefore wait on the Lord everyday until the influx of the Spirit of God overtakes our self-will and actions.

Acknowledge And Also Await God's blessings

"Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord."
Psalm 134:2

Let our hands be lifted up, our mouths be filled with His praises and thanksgiving, and our hearts be elevated and devoted to worship God, exalt, honor and adore Him. Let us thus give God the reverence that He deserves. Let every single cell in our body be happy when praising God than anything else that we do. Let us lift our hands to praise God eagerly expecting to receive His blessings and at the same time acknowledge the receipt of the blessings already received.

Save, Bless And Shepherd Us

"Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever."
Psalm 28:9

We are God's special possession. Let us call upon Him to redeem us from all adversaries, sins, troubles and temptations and bless us with all spiritual and material blessings. He is the One who can comfort, renovate and restore us back to life. He is our Good shepherd who guides us to abundance and carries and lifts us up whenever we are weak and weary.

Long-lasting Cure

"Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved."
Psalm 80:19

First of all we need to realise that only when God interposes, our situation can be recoverd to the full. Human attempts are inefficient. But God is all-powerful to fix any kind of problem. When God exerts Himself by shining His face upon us and our situation, the result will be effective and enduring. He does not just outwardly fix the problem but His healing will be deep-rooted and long-lasting.

Fall In With God's Plans

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."
Proverbs 19:21

God knew us before we were born and He had a whole idea of our life on earth. Unless we find His purpose for us and carry it out, we will not be content or happy in whatsoever we do. We always tend to fluctuate in our ideas, and others around us try to feed us with their suggestions. But none can defeat God's purpose 4 us(Isaiah 14:27). He will accomplish His design for us because He is unchangeably the same forever. Let us not resist but fall in with His plans.

Confidence in God Shields Us From Traps

"..the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared."
Proverbs 3:26

When God alone is our reliance, we can completely relax amidst any terrible situation. Our certainty of assurance in Christ is our security in times of pains, hardships and hazards. He will preserve us from any trap laid by the wicked. If at all we are entangled, He will not delay to pluck us out of the pitfall, when our eyes are continually fixed on Him (Psa.25:15).

Expect For His Blaze in Our Dusk

"O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption."
Psalm 130:7

God has immense blessing in reserve for us. We need to wait with great expectation to receive them. He is pleased to exercise His absolute love, mercy and grace on us when we approach Him to get hold of them. He has already earned unlimited redemption for us at the cross for all our trials and troubles and is ready to pour it out on us in His time. Let us wait with eager expectation to receive His blaze in our dusk, vigor in our lack and win in our warfare.