THE LORD REIGNS

Today’s Text: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth. (1 Chronicles 16:31)

Today’s Thoughts: If there’s one thing to rejoice and be glad about it’s that our God reigns. Yes Satan causes turmoil in our lives, but even though we chose him as prince of this world when we sinned, God is still in control and has the highest authority. Satan can do nothing without God’s consent. Some people think that because God allows bad things to happen to His people He is not a totally fair and loving God, but knowing that we often still choose Satan as the guiding voice in our lives and sin, all I can say is that I’m thankful that God does not leave us to reap the consequences of choosing Satan as our prince. We should be in a far worse condition, but God intervenes. He loves us. God knows all things; He knows what is best. He will work all things out for good when we trust Him, even though it may not always seem that way to us. God really does care about us.

Today’s Testimony: People often have questions like, “If God is a loving God then why does He allow us to suffer so much?” “Where is God?” “If God is real then why doesn’t He intervene?” People seem to get so confused. I think those people have totally forgotten that Satan is still very much alive and active to hurt us and to turn us away from God. Satan wants God to get the blame for his evil acts, and so many people believe his lie. I wrote this song to try to give a better perspective to the whole topic. But one thing that I know – I’ve seen God’s hand blessing me far too many times to believe that He is not real and does not love me. I know that He is real and loves me – no question about it.

God Is Alive

Why is there so much corruption?
Why is there so much pain?
Why do we death and destruction?
And when we look for the sun, why does it always rain?

Why is there so much beauty?
Why is there so much joy?
Why do we see growth and victory?
And people living by faith that none can ever destroy?

Why so much contrast, when we look at this life?
Why do we see peace mingled with strife?
For the prince of this world, the prince of darkness
Is not left to rain at his will
There’s a God of love, who in the midst of the storm
Can come and simply say, “Peace, be still.”

God is alive and well and He’s reigning on the throne
Tenderly caring for his own
God is alive and well and He’s reigning on the throne
Tenderly caring for his own

Just take a look and you will clearly see
The reason we’re alive today could only be
Because God is real and He loves us with infinite love
He provides for and protects us from His throne up above

God is alive and well and He’s reigning on the throne
Tenderly caring for his own
God is alive and well and He’s reigning on the throne
Tenderly caring for his own

God is alive, O He’s alive
And reigning in love

Today’s Task: As the founder of 3ABN (a Christian satellite broadcasting network), Danny Shelton (This song was inspired by his words), always says, “God is alive and well and on the throne.” – believe it! The Lord is God and He loves us. He will never forsake His people. Trust His goodness and rest in His peace. Ask Him to reign in your life. God is good – always good, and only good! Don’t ever forget that. Praise Him for His love and care right now.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You are good. I thank You that You look after Your people. Please help us to remember that all evil comes from Satan. Help us to remember that we can trust You to work all things out for our good. I thank You that You reign. Please reign in our hearts. I thank You that You love us so much. We love You too. Amen.

GOD WILL GUIDE

Today’s Text: For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. (Psalm 31:3)

Today’s Thoughts: God is our rock and our fortress. We can lean on Him and hide in Him. We have chosen Him as our God and for that reason He will lead us and guide us. Our God is great and every great deed that He does brings honour and glory to His name. God can intervene no matter what our problems are – we can lean on Him, hide in Him and follow Him. We serve a great and loving God!

Today’s Testimony: I’m studying Psychological Counselling. The modules were all pretty straight forward and from the start all I had to decide on was what to choose as my major. Then this year things changed. I have to do a module on African Language and this year they added two pre-requisites that I have to do first. I decided to register for the first pre-requisite for the first semester this year. But there was a mistake and I couldn’t register online for that module, so I left it and took something else instead.
That wasn’t such a big problem, but the bigger problem I had was that the major I had been doing (General Education) had been dropped and I had to select an alternative. I phoned to find out if those who were already doing that as a major could continue and was told that I had to choose something else. I decided to leave it and try a different major and then if that didn’t work I’d phone a bit more. The new major (Public Administration) was definitely not for me. I cannot see myself ever working in that field. On top of the subject not appealing to me, the exam was horrific. I left it all in God’s hands.
This semester I tried registering for the same African Language module I’d battled to register for last time and the registration went through. I didn’t know what to do about my major and was weighing up my options. I decided to email my former General Education lecturer and ask about it, but I couldn’t find the address. Finally the Lord led me to look at the list of subjects for registration. General Education had been placed back!!! I chose my modules and submitted. First my registration was unsuccessful, but then after submitting it for inspection it was successful.
God is so good! He solved all the registration problems and then led me to check the list and to try again to register for the problem modules. God can guide us in any of our problems. He can clear the way, and then He can guide us down the path He cleared. I’ve chosen the Lord as my Guide – have you?

Today’s Task: Ask the Lord to be your Guide – then follow His leading. Trust Him to open doors for you. God knows what you need. Lean on Him; hide in Him and follow Him. God loves you – love Him back!

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You care about us so much. I thank You that You lead and guide us. I thank You that You intervene in our lives. Please help us to trust You more. I thank You that You can clear the way before us and then guide us down that path. We love You and we praise You. Amen.

CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY

Today’s Text: Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)

Today’s Thoughts: The human heart is proud. We naturally want attention and honour. We want to be important and we often think of ourselves first. But God wants us to think of others before ourselves. He wants us to be humble servants of His who know that we are all that we are only because of Him. We need to always look at ourselves in comparison to our mighty God, not in comparison to those around us. Yet at the same time, we need to see our worth in knowing that that same God values us. But in spite of what God or anyone else thinks of us, may we remain humble and clothed with humility. Let us love others and place them first.

Today’s Testimony: Today I’m going to share another song. This one was written in 2006. Whenever we face the threat of becoming proud we need to run to the Lord and ask Him to humble us. Christ humbled Himself more than we could ever really comprehend when He came to this earth to live and die for us – surely we can follow in His steps even though it be in a far smaller degree.

Lord Humble Me

Lord humble me
Clothe me with humility
Lord change my heart
So that my mind from You won’t depart
Lord may You be able to say I’ve died
To self and my pride
Out of Your love and tender mercy
O Lord humble me

So many times I look at who I am
And feel that on my own I can stand
But then I look again and clearly see
That there is nothing good in me
So when I’m threatened by my pride
I run to my Saviour’s side
And plead with Him earnestly
Asking Him to humble me

Lord humble me
Clothe me with humility
Lord change my heart
So that my mind from You won’t depart
Lord may You be able to say I’ve died
To self and my pride
Out of Your love and tender mercy
O Lord humble me

Today’s Task: Ask the Lord to humble you and keep you humble. Ask Him to clothe you with humility. Ask Him to help you to be a powerful witness for Him through your humble life. Thank the Lord that He was willing to humble himself enough to live and die for you. God values you – praise Him.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You love and care about us so much. I thank You that You humbled Yourself for us. Please help us to become humble servants of Yours. Lord clothe us with humility. Help us to remain humble and show the world a glimpse of the loving God we serve. We love You Lord. Amen.

GOD IS MERCIFUL

Today’s Text: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1)

Today’s Thoughts: In this text David was asking God to have mercy on him. Notice that he did not give anything that he had done as a reason for the Lord to forgive him – he knew that his only hope was God’s loving-kindness and His tender mercies. We never have anything in and of ourselves that enables us to claim God’s mercy, His mercy is free to all who ask for it, and it’s available simply because our God is merciful and loving. We do not deserve His mercy, but He graciously bestows it on us. What would we do without God’s mercy?!

Today’s Testimony: For my first exam for this last semester there were no past-papers available online. We were told which sections to study, and we had the assignment questions as a guide. It was a multiple-choice exam, which is my favourite type of exam, but without the past-papers as a guide it was a bit more complicated to prepare.
On top of that, I had been busy with all sorts of other things and hadn’t devoted sufficient time into studying for that exam. I knew it would be my fault if I didn’t pass, but asked the Lord to forgive me and prayed that He would intervene.
The morning of my exam I read the text I shared today. I asked the Lord to be merciful to me. I felt a sense of peace and trust. I knew I wasn’t totally prepared for the exam, but I knew the Lord could help me. On the way to the exam the Lord and I chatted about the subject of His mercy a little bit more. I knew I didn’t deserve His mercy, but He gave me peace and trust that He would intervene regardless of my failure to thoroughly prepare for the exam.
I went into the exam with an amazing sense of peace which lasted almost the whole two hours. When the last half-hour came around I started panicking that I wouldn’t finish on time. I did finish and still had time to double-check a few of my answers.
God is good! I was sure I’d passed. I did pass – but it’s only because God was merciful to me and also gave me peace. I praise the Lord for His loving-kindness and His tender mercy!

Today’s Task: Praise the Lord that He is merciful, but do not take advantage of His mercy. God’s heart is saddened when we live how we want expecting Him to have mercy on us when we ask Him for it. Live your life for the Lord now. Make the Lord smile. Know that his mercy is available to every repentant sinner. I invite you to turn to Him today and plead for His mercy. We do not deserve it, but we need it and God wants us to have it. God’s mercy is available to you – don’t wait until it’s too late.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You forgive us if we truly repent. I thank You that You have mercy on us when we could never earn or deserve it. I thank You for Your loving-kindness and tender mercy. Lord please help us to turn to You but also to never take advantage of Your mercy. I thank You that You are our God and that we serve a God who cares and is merciful. Lord help us to be merciful to others remembering that You have shown us far more mercy than we could ever give to anyone else. We thank You and we love You Lord. Amen.

GOD KNOWS US INSIDE OUT

Today’s Text: Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. (Psalm 139:2)

Today’s Thoughts: God knows everything about us. He knows our characters, our thoughts, our past, present and future. The blessing in having a God that knows everything about us is that He therefore knows what is best for each of us individually. He knows what to do in order to get each of us to work for Him and He knows what work is best for us to do. He knows how to bless each of us. He knows what we need. He knows how to intervene for each of us individually. God knows us inside out. I’m grateful. Are you?

Today’s Testimony: I’ve started writing many books before, but none of them really got very far. I’m the kind of person who needs quite a bit of motivation in order to continue with a project.
At one stage I started writing an autobiography in order to share how the Lord has blessed me throughout my life. But I soon lost interest in that and left it to complete at a later stage. A while later I decided to share all the testimonies of what the Lord has done for me by compiling a personal devotional book. I thought that this way it would be far easier and I could focus on just one day at a time. But that also soon took a standstill.
God wanted the testimonies that I have to share to reach the world, and He therefore had a better idea. God knows me inside out – He knew that in order for Lindy Catherine Dearham to finish a book sharing the stories of the amazing ways He has blessed her, she would have to be “forced” to work on it every day. The Lord therefore gave me this ministry – Today’s T’s. I’ve shared the story of how Today’s T’s came about once before (Today’s T’s Day 57). The Lord told me He wanted me to start this ministry and that He would provide everything I’d need, and I said, “Yes.”
The Lord got me to commit to sending out a testimony every day because He knew that if I didn’t have some form of pressure, my book would never happen. God knows me inside out, and I’m glad. I hope you’re glad too.

Today’s Task: Praise the Lord that He knows you inside out. He can intervene in your life because He knows what your needs are. Lay your life and your plans before His feet – He will do what’s best for you. God loves you. Don’t ever forget that.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You know me inside out. I praise You that You know us all inside out. I thank You that You will intervene in our lives in whatever way You need to – please do. I thank You that You care about us. I thank You that You are patient with us. We love You Lord. Amen.

THE LORD CAN CHANGE US

Today’s Text: And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. (Jeremiah 18:4)

Today’s Thoughts: Jeremiah was told to watch the potter and then the Lord said that the clay represented His people and the potter represented Him. God created us as perfect beings, but we chose to sin and therefore became “marred vessels” in His hands. But God did not leave us to continue in the path of destruction – if we allow Him to be our Potter he will remould us and change us, making us more and more like Him. He wants to change each of our lives – all we need to do is ask Him to intervene and surrender our lives fully into His hands to be reformed. The Lord can change us – will we let Him?

Today’s Testimony: Three years ago I wrote a song to sing during the youth week-of-prayer that I presented at my church. Today I’d like to share the words to that song. These words were true in my life. Sometimes we don’t realize that the Lord requires better of us. We think we are ok. I know that I still need the Lord to work miracles in my life. I still need Him to change me and make me more and more like Him. How about you?

Lord Make Me More Like You

I thought that I could be who I wanted to be
And still be able to live eternally
But I soon found out I was wrong
There were some things in my life I needed to work on
I needed to
Allow You
To come and change my self-centred heart
And love and peace impart

Lord make me more and more like You
Lord break me; do whatever You know You must do
Lord take me and mould me for eternity
Lord wake me up to the reality
That if I do not surrender and place my life in Your hands
Then when You come in the clouds I will not be able to stand
Lord make me more and more like You
Lord break me; do whatever You know You must do

Mould my character Lord, so that I can be like You

Today’s Task: Ask the Lord to forgive you for the past and to change you right now. He longs to have your permission to work in your life. Please allow Him to enter your heart and make you more like Him. There’s just no time to live for ourselves. Ask the Lord to do whatever it takes to change you. Please surrender. And then allow Him to continue to work in your life.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You are a loving Potter and did not throw your marred pieces of clay away. You have been patient with us and we thank You. You are ready to remould us into Your image. Please help us to surrender our lives to You. Lord make us more and more like You. We love You Lord. Amen.

CHOOSE THE LORD

Today’s Text: And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)

Today’s Thoughts: So many people don’t want to surrender to the Lord. They’ve simply never met Him. Joshua put it quite straight – in his mind, if you don’t accept the Lord, you obviously see choosing Him as evil. Once we meet the Lord for who He really is, we cannot help but choose Him as our King. Who or what is your god? Or do you serve the true and living God? If the Lord is not your God – please choose Him today – you will not regret it.

Today’s Testimony: Today I’d like to share the words to another song the Lord gave to me. This one was written in 2004. I know many people who either haven’t made a decision for Christ at all, or haven’t made a total surrender. There isn’t time to delay in making a full surrender to the Lord – tomorrow might be too late.

Choose The Lord

There have been choices from the beginning
Choices between evil and good
Some people have chosen sinning
But others have for the Lord stood

Will the choice that chooses your destination
Be a choice that brings you salvation
Will you choose the Lord
Because He loves you

Satan chose to leave the Father
But going alone he wasn’t going to do
One third of the angels chose to go with him
And now, he wants to know if you will go too

Will the choice that chooses your destination
Be a choice that brings you salvation
Will you choose the Lord
Because He loves you

But why did God give us choices
Why didn’t He just make no other way
For He doesn’t want to force us
He wants us, out of love, to obey

Will the choice that chooses your destination
Be a choice that brings you salvation
Will you choose the Lord
Because He loves you

We don’t serve a God of force
We serve a God of love
Out of love He gave us the power of choice
And right now He’s asking you to choose

Will the choice that chooses your destination
Be a choice that brings you salvation
Will you choose the Lord
Because He loves you

O please choose the Lord
Because He loves you

Today’s Task: Choose the Lord; and then encourage others to do the same. Surrender your life totally to the Lord. He loves you – don’t break God’s heart.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You gave us the power of choice so that we can serve You out of love not force. I thank You that You are a loving and caring God. Lord we don’t want to serve any other gods but You. Help us to choose You and surrender to You fully. Lord we need You. We thank You for Your love. Amen.

GOD GIVES GOOD GIFTS

Today’s Text: If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11)

Today’s Thoughts: We know how to give good gifts most of the time. If we want to please someone we usually know what to give. God knows far better than we do what we need and what we really want. He loves to bless us with the perfect gifts. He will often bless us with gifts that we would never choose for ourselves, simply because in His wisdom He knows how much we will come to appreciate those gifts. God is the giver of good gifts.

Today’s Testimony: Yesterday I shared a story about the Lord providing me with the perfect pair of shoes. I also mentioned that the Lord had chosen shoes for me before that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself. I’ve shared the one story before (Today’s T’s Day 47) and now I’m going to share the second one.
This time I needed a new pair of sandals. I hadn’t seen any that I liked, so I was just making do with the ones I had until I found a pair. But God knew which shoes I needed and seeing I had seen them but didn’t like them all that much, He intervened.
My older sister had met with friends at the mall, and we’d come to fetch her when they were done. Just a few steps into the mall my one shoe hooked on a tile; I tripped; and my shoe broke. I then made my way to the nearest place where I could buy a pair of shoes; found a pair that I could manage to live with; and bought it. Like I said, I had seen those shoes before but I didn’t think they were “me”.
Those shoes also turned out to be one of the most comfortable pairs of shoes I have ever had, and I eventually did come to like them a lot. Even though they were brand-new they never gave me blisters. The only time they ever gave me pain was when they were nearing the end of their days and if I wore them too long it felt as though I was walking on the ground itself. By then I already had another pair of shoes to take their place, but they were definitely not as comfortable. God knows how to choose shoes! God knows how to give good gifts no matter what they are! God is Good – always good, and only good!

Today’s Task: Trust God’s knowledge; trust God’s timing; trust God’s goodness; trust God full stop. He knows what you need and He knows when you need it. He loves you and cares about you – believe it. Ask Him to intervene in whatever trying situations you have. Thank Him for His intervention. Thank Him now in advance, and praise Him again and share the testimony once it happens. God loves you – love Him back.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You give good gifts. You never give bad gifts. Everything good comes from You, and everything bad comes from Satan. I pray that You will give us strength to endure every trial. I thank You that You never leave us to face them alone. Help us to trust You. I praise You that we can place our trust fully and confidently in You. We praise You and thank You in Christ’s name, Amen.

A PEACEFUL TRUST

Today’s Text: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. (Isaiah 26:3)

Today’s Thoughts: No matter what our trouble is, if our minds are stayed on Christ, He will give us a peaceful trust in Him. If we are trusting Him to intervene in the way that He knows is best we will have peace. We will know that God has a perfect way and a perfect time. We mustn’t focus on the problem, but on the One who can solve the problem. If we truly trust the Lord and keep our eyes fixed on His soon-coming intervention, in the way He knows best, then we will have peace. And we will therefore have a peaceful trust in our God. We all need that.

Today’s Testimony: I needed a new pair of casual-smart shoes. We had been asked to sing during a week-of-prayer at my church and I therefore hoped to be able to get a pair before then. We went to the mall to look for shoes. I saw a few pairs, but none of them seemed to “scream my name”. Finally my step-dad said, “Ok, we’ll go to one more shop, and then we’re going home.”
I had been praying from the start that the Lord would help me to find the perfect shoes, and throughout our shopping experience I had continued talking to the Lord about it. The main conversation that I had with the Lord was just after my step-dad had said that we would only go to one last shop. That was the only other shop where I would normally buy clothes anyway, so in my opinion, if there weren’t shoes there, then I would have either had to settle for something I had already seen or wait and get shoes at a later stage.
I really needed a new pair of shoes and wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I couldn’t find any, but the Lord blessed me with a peaceful trust in Him. I asked Him to intervene, but also said that I knew that He knew what was best. He had chosen shoes for me before that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself, and those were some of the best shoes I’ve ever had, so I knew He could help me to choose from the ones I’d already seen, or He could still have a pair waiting for me at the last shop. I also knew that He might have a better plan in mind and maybe I wasn’t supposed to get shoes at that stage. I left it totally in His hands. I took hold of that peaceful trust that He had offered.
We went into the last shop, and there was the perfect pair of shoes. This pair did “scream my name” and they were within my price-range. God is so good! He can intervene in all our troubles, but He can also give us a peaceful trust in Him in the meantime. Won’t you accept that peaceful trust with me?

Today’s Task: Keep your eyes fixed on Christ – know that He can and will intervene no matter what you’re going through. But as I’ve said many times before, remember that God knows what is truly best. Place your trust in Him and He will give you peace until the time is right to intervene. Ask the Lord to give you a peaceful trust in Him – then accept that blessing.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You care about us. You do not want us to worry and stress, You want us to have peace. Lord please give us Your peace. Help us to trust You so that we can have that peaceful trust in You. Help us to know and remember that You care about our well-being. Help us to leave all our troubles in Your hands. Help us to keep our minds stayed on You. I thank You that we can trust You. I thank You that You give us peace. I thank You that You will always come through for us. We love You Lord. Amen.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR HEART’S DOOR

Today’s Text: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Today’s Thoughts: Christ is standing at the door to your heart, unless you’ve already let Him in. He wants to come in and reign in your heart. He wants to become a personal Friend of yours. If you hear Him knocking, please don’t ignore Him. Letting Christ enter your life will be the best decision you’ve ever made. Do you hear His voice tenderly calling to your wondering heart? You might not get another chance to open the door and allow Christ in. If you do not make it through this day, would you have been happy with the one reigning in your heart? Please open your heart’s door to Christ today.

Today’s Testimony: Today I’d like to share another song that I wrote. This one was also written six years ago. This time I’ve shared the whole song as is, except that the chorus gets repeated at the end. I’ll once again let the words speak for themselves.

Open Your Heart’s Door

Let me take you on a journey to the scene where Jesus was crucified
You hear the crowd screaming, you see people crying on the side
You carry on looking around
And this is where your attention is found

You’re looking at our blood-stained, thorn-torn, nail-pierced Christ
With love in His eyes and you on His mind
He turns to look at you and says, “Don’t make Me die for nothing
‘Cause to Me you’re truly something
It’s you I’m dying for
Please open your heart’s door”

Christ’s grace abounds so freely to every kindred tongue and nation
But will you choose this gift – the perfect gift of salvation
If you want to meet the one who can give you freedom
Then now with me to the cross come

You’re looking at our blood-stained, thorn-torn, nail-pierced Christ
With love in His eyes and you on His mind
He turns to look at you and says, “Don’t make Me die for nothing
Cause to Me you’re truly something
It’s you I’m dying for
Please open your heart’s door”

O please open your heart’s door and let Christ in

Today’s Task: Listen for the Lord’s knock. Listen for His voice. Do you hear it? Please don’t leave Him standing outside. You need Him in your heart. You need Him in your life. He died in your place – don’t let His death for you be in vain. God has done all He can. Please open your heart’s door and invite Christ in. Do not wait – do it right now.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You were willing to die in our place. I thank You that You did not stop there – You are knocking on ever closed door. I thank You that You love us so much. Please help us to take the step to open the door. We need You. Please enter our hearts and change our lives for Your glory. We love You Lord. Amen.

GOD IS LOVE

Today’s Text: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1John 4:16)

Today’s Thoughts: Have you seen God’s love? Do you know and believe that He loves you so much? Let us focus for a bit on the words “God is love”. The text does not say that God “loves”, it says that God “is love”. This means that God cannot be anything less than love. Everything He does is done in love. Love comes from God – we cannot love without God placing that love in our hearts. If we ever want proof that God is love we simply need to think back on the cross. If that doesn’t convince us that God is love and only love, then nothing will. God loves you. Do you know how much love God is offering to you? Think about it – He is love itself. Please accept that love today.

Today’s Testimony: Six years ago I wrote a song entitled “Why Did God Create Man?”. I’m going to share the words of that song with you today and I’ll let them speak for themselves. I’m once again only going to insert the chorus once. The chorus is the piece after the first two verses and should come again at the end of the song.

Why Did God Create Man?

Why did God create man
When He knew we’d only leave the hollow of His hand
And that these wicked people would only cause Him pain
And that when we reaped the result of our sin He would get the blame?
Well you see, God is love – He has so much love to share
So He wanted to share that love with someone, although we couldn’t care

Why did God create you and me
Although the future He could see?
Surely when He saw our sin and the price He’d have to pay
He should have thought twice and thrown His plan away
But still He chose to create sinful people like us
For then He would not only share, but show that He loves us so much

O He knew, He knew that we would never cease to sin
And He knew, He knew that when temptation came we would give in
But He still chose to die
It’s hard to imagine why
But He saw it as a bonus
To be able to display His love to us

So you see it was purely out of love
That Christ came from above
To share and to show
His great love for His people below
Now I pray that you see
That out of love, God created you and me

Today’s Task: No matter how many people try and tell you that God doesn’t care, even if it is the way you’ve been feeling – please wipe that thought from your mind. We definitely might not always see God’s hand working in our lives, but His hand of love is always there. God does love you – believe it. If you do believe that God loves you, please tell as many people as you can that God is love. Show them that God is love by letting His love shine out of your heart. Praise Him for His love.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You for Your love. I thank You that You have never and will never stop loving us. Help us to live to please You. Help us to love You in return. I thank You for the plan of salvation that You were willing to set in place, although You knew how much it would cost. Lord I thank You for loving us that much. I praise You in Christ’s name. Amen.

FOR GOD SO LOVED

Today’s Text: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)

Today’s Thoughts: God loves us so much that He was even prepared to send His Son to save us, knowing that he was going to be mocked, beaten, humiliated and murdered. Watching those last scenes of Christ’s life must have broken the Father’s heart. God knew all this would take place. He knew His Son would have to die if we were to live even before He created us, yet He still did. God and Jesus were both prepared to pay the price. That’s how much you are loved. All we have to do is believe in Christ. Believe that He is all He says He is. Believe that He truly does love you, and then love Him back. Show Him that you love Him by living to please Him. God loves you more than you will ever be able to comprehend – love Him back.

Today’s Testimony: At my church we often have what we call a Praise and Worship Service in which we share testimonies and sing songs together, as well as have a number of groups or individuals sing. A few years ago we had one and the topic was Praise God for Salvation. I thought the topic was a good one, and with me, whenever I hear of an interesting topic – I write a song. I therefore wrote a song which shares that title. Today I’d like to share the words of that song with you. However I’m only going to insert the chorus at the end.

Praise God For Salvation

Guilty, condemned, destined to die
We could not save ourselves, though some people try
Satan stood there smiling – he thought the battle had been won
But his joy soon turned to worry when God said He’d send His Son

Pardoned, redeemed, given a second chance
To live for Jesus Christ in every circumstance
We can live forever it is up to you and I
If we give our hearts to Jesus we will not have to die

This gift of grace is for you and me
But the greatest thing about it is that it is free
We just need to accept it and give our Lord control
He has promised He will cleanse us and once again make us whole

Lord I praise You for salvation
For the plan You worked out before creation
I praise You for coming to die so that we might have life
Lord I praise You for Your sacrifice
You died in our place
What an awesome gift of grace
Lord I praise You for salvation

Lord I praise You for salvation

Today’s Task: Praise God for salvation. Thank Him for sending His Son to die in your place. Thank Him that He loves you that much. Please accept His gift of salvation if you haven’t already. Christ gave His life for you – give your life to Him.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You so loved the world that You gave Your one and only Son to suffer and die so that we could have the chance to live eternally. It makes no sense because we are so unworthy, but I thank You that You think with the heart of a loving God and not with a heart like ours. I thank You for Your amazing gift. Help us to accept it. I praise You for salvation. Amen.

WE CAN ALWAYS REJOICE

Today’s Text: Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17, 18)

Today’s Thoughts: No flowers, no fruit, no produce, no livestock – that’s a pretty bad situation. If farming is ones livelihood and there is nothing to take to market, the farmer has a huge problem. What about in our lives? What if everything was taken away from us? Would we still be able to rejoice simply because we still have God? Would we be able to rejoice to know that even though all earthly things are taken away, we still have salvation and therefore a bright future in Heaven with the Lord? Would we? We need to be so close to the Lord and trust Him so completely that nothing else matters. To rejoice when life is crumbling at your feet is definitely not easy, but God can help us to find peace and joy in Him.

Today’s Testimony: Four years ago my twin sister and I were asked to sing at a program at the women’s prison in Durban. A few ladies from my church visited with some of the inmates regularly and the program was the graduation of those who had completed one or more Bible correspondence courses. That was the first time I’d ever been inside a prison.
Once the women were all seated they started singing. I have never heard singing like that in all my life. They were singing in Zulu and from the bottom of their hearts. It was so loud, but so beautiful. There must have been about a hundred of them all singing and praising their God.
These people were in prison – away from family and former friends and the comforts of home, but still they could rejoice. I wish you could have heard them sing. They were so polite and friendly. You could see that Christ had entered their hearts and made a difference in their lives.
If people in prison can praise the Lord like that, then surely we can too. And yet, yes, they have shelter and at least something to eat, some people do not even have the benefits of those in prison. But prison is definitely not a happy place. The life-style in prison is not enviable. But these people are still able to have joy in Christ; they can still wear a smile and praise their Saviour who has set them free from the chains of sin. Some will get out of prison and begin a new life – this time with Christ at their side; others may never get out of prison, but no matter whether they go or stay, many have found the most valuable Friend they will ever have and they will never cease to praise Him. I want to learn to rejoice in the Lord at all times no matter what “prisons” I am in. Don’t you?

Today’s Task: Rejoice in the God of your salvation no matter what is happening in your life. If it is difficult, start by praising Him for the things that you do have and are thankful for – it could be as simple as water, food, a beating-heart, friends and family. With time the Lord will help you to rejoice fully, regardless of what you are going through. We will always have God even if we have nothing else – thank Him for that blessing. God loves you and has made salvation available to you – praise Him for that. Ask the Lord to give you a peaceful trust in Him so that you can rejoice at all times. Remember that He cares about you.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that Your joy is available to each one of us. Lord life is definitely not always easy; help us to rejoice in You even when things are really rough. Help us to trust You. We thank You that You are trustworthy. We thank You for all the blessings that we do have, even though we have got trials. Please give us the strength to endure the trials so that we can be closer to You on the other side. I thank You that You are with us in every trial. I thank You that You care. Please put praise in our hearts right now – You deserve it. We love You Lord. Amen.

NOT OURSELVES, BUT CHRIST

Today’s Text: For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5)

Today’s Thoughts: We live to exalt Christ. When we preach or witness we do so in order to exalt Christ, not ourselves. We are but the humble instruments that the Lord has chosen to use to proclaim Himself to the world. Our hearers are meant to see through us and see Christ and Christ alone. Our priority is to show Christ to the world – it does not matter if the world sees the messenger as odd, as long as they see Christ. We need to proclaim Christ to a lost and dying world at all costs. Show them God – show them God’s heart.

Today’s Testimony: Usually when I speak in public I am open and honest (not that I’m not always honest when speaking, but I probably don’t always open up totally if it’s unnecessary). Then afterwards I feel so transparent, by which I mean that others can see right inside me and see a better glimpse of who I am, faults and all.
One night after presenting a topic to a group of people, I said to the Lord, “O Lord, I feel so transparent.” The Lord then said to me, “Good, you’re supposed to be. They’re meant to see right through you and see Me.” Then I said, “That’s not what I meant, but thanks Lord.”
Yes I might have revealed a bit of my human nature; yes others may have been able to see that Lindy isn’t perfect – but that’s a good thing. Only my God is truly perfect. If I had to share pieces about myself, good and bad, in order for my God to be glorified then that’s the way it must be. Whenever I speak I am simply the messenger. I am not important – the one who gave the message is. I preach Christ and Him alone. I am nothing worthy of praise. But my God deserves total praise. I hope that as you have been reading and as you continue reading Today’s T’s you see right through this messenger and see Christ. Every testimony is shared in order to reveal how great my God is. My God truly is great!

Today’s Task: Preach Christ. Don’t allow others to think highly of you as a messenger. Exalt Christ and Christ alone. Share Him with the world. Tell them how great your God is. Do not get discouraged if the world thinks poorly of you as a person – make sure you are living for Christ and then focus on exalting Him. Ask the Lord to help you to become and stay transparent so that all those you speak to will only hear Christ’s message and see Christ. Reveal to the world your God of love. Introduce them to your Saviour.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that we do not have to worry about what the world thinks of us – all that matters is that they get a true picture of You. Help us to live our lives so that all can see You in us. Help us to proclaim You and You alone. Please Lord, help us to die to self so that we never want to exalt ourselves but only You. Teach us to be humble servants of Yours. I thank You that You have given us the privilege of showing Your true character to the world. Lord I praise You because You are all-worthy of praise. We love You Lord. Amen.

GOD IS OUR HELPER

Today’s Text: Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. (Psalm 30:10)

Today’s Thoughts: Is there anything that you need help with? God can help us no matter what our problem is. We definitely don’t deserve His intervention, but in His mercy, because He loves us, He is more than willing to come and help us. We can take all our problems to the Lord and He will help us in accordance with His will. God is our Helper – our loving helper.

Today’s Testimony: Do any of you write songs? If you do, maybe you can relate to the testimony I’m going to share. Sometimes my songs build off a topic that I think would be interesting; sometimes I’ve needed a song to fit with a certain topic; but quite a few times lately the Lord has just popped a tune and some words into my head and I’ve built on that. Now that I find totally amazing!
The other day was one of those times. I was thinking about something, and the Lord popped a tune and a few word into my head about the topic I was thinking about. Now have you ever tried to remember a song and couldn’t think of the words or tune? Sometimes while my songs are still fresh I land up forgetting those details. Lately I’ve been recording the pieces I have of any new songs onto my phone to listen to if I have a problem. But with this song, when the Lord gave it I couldn’t just drop everything and run and record it, so I decided I’d do it a bit later. But when I had finished what I was busy with I completely forgot all about it. Then the next day I remembered but couldn’t recall the exact words or the tune. I therefore took the problem to the Lord. He had given both the words and the tune in the first place, so He could bring them back to my mind. I kept trying to think of the words, and then finally the Lord brought them back to my mind. Shortly thereafter He helped me to recall the tune too. I kept the song in my mind until I could go and record the piece I had. Once I recorded that piece the Lord and I added another piece and I recorded that. Both the words and tune are stuck in my mind now. God is so good! He can help us when no one else can.

Today’s Task: Ask the Lord to be your Helper. Trust Him to help you no matter what your trouble is. Know that He can help you with anything and everything. All our successes are only because the Lord is helping us. We can do nothing without Him. Thank Him that He is merciful enough to help sinful people like us. Praise your Helper.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You are willing to help Your children. I thank You that You know how to help us in every situation. Please help us to trust in You and to take all our problems to You. Lord I thank You that You help us even though we are unworthy. I thank You that You love and care about us enough to do so. Lord we invite You to be our Helper. We praise You and thank You in Christ’s name. Amen.

GOD BLESSES HIS PEOPLE

Today’s Text: The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. (Psalm 115:12)

Today’s Thoughts: The Lord has never forgotten us – we’re always on His mind. He loves us and loves to bless us. Sometimes God will grant us the blessings we’ve asked for; other times he’ll bless us in ways we had not asked. God knows about the blessings we need even when we are totally unaware of them. God cares about us so much. He will bless His people.

Today’s Testimony: I’ve mentioned before that I’m studying through UNISA. Correspondence with the university is mostly done via post, internet or phone. UNISA makes most of the past exam papers available online and I always download them. I usually download them shortly after the semester starts. I’ve always thought I’d do that just in case they decide to remove some of the older papers. I never thought that that would really happen, but now I know that it is possible.
God is so good! I haven’t always downloaded the past papers straight away, but this time the Lord made sure I did. A while before the exam period started I went to check to see if they had any newer papers available. One of the papers that I had downloaded was no longer there. The day before my last exam I went online to check because I had only three past papers for that module, and I couldn’t remember if I had had four at one stage and misplaced it. I thought that if those were the only ones they had available then I had all the papers I could, seeing I was missing the latest one. There were no past papers available – not a single one. I went to check out the online discussion forum and at one stage quite a few of the students had been asking each other for past exam papers. There were a few students that could help. I’m not sure how many papers they had though. God is so good! Those papers really helped me.
Just for those who may be wondering – the format of the paper had changed from half written and half multiple-choice to all multiple-choice. And even this fact was a total blessing. I really prefer multiple-choice exams to written ones. I’m assuming that they removed the past papers to avoid confusion due to the change in format. Although, one of the past papers was also all multiple-choice. Then it could have been the fact that past papers are often not available for multiple-choice exams, as was the case with the first exam I wrote for this semester. But whatever their reason for removing the papers, my God had His reason for getting me to download them in advance, seeing I don’t know when they were removed. God wanted to bless me when I didn’t even know I needed blessings in that area until afterwards. He blessed in the changing of the paper format, and He blessed in getting me to download the past papers in time. God is truly so good!!!

Today’s Task: Praise the Lord for His blessings. He loves to bless us. If you are in need of a blessing today – ask Him for it. If it is what is best for you, God will grant it. Be ready to count your blessings – don’t miss a single one. Remember to share testimonies of your blessings with others – they need to know how great your God is. Trust in God and be blessed.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You love to bless Your people. I thank You for all the blessings we’ve received so far. Help us to count our blessings. Lord I thank You for all the blessings that we are totally unaware of and that we will only know about when we meet You face-to-face. Please help us to trust You to provide us with all the blessings that we need. I thank You for Your great love. I thank You that You are continually mindful of us and never forget us. Help us never to forget and forsake You. We love You Lord. Amen.

THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER US FROM TRIALS

Today’s Text: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. (2 Peter 2:9)

Today’s Thoughts: Temptations may refer to the things that entice us to sin, or it can be another word for trials. Any trial ultimately has the potential to cause us to give up and turn away from God and His ways. I definitely do not want to give in to the temptation to quit when I face trials. But we cannot stand firm during tough times on our own, God is the only One who can pull us through. He knows just how to deliver us from our trials, and spare us from walking the wrong way. We may want the trial removed, but God may see it best to simply help us to make it through. He will do what’s best. He can deliver us, and He will. He does not want us to stray and one day reap the consequences – He loves us far too much. But ultimately, the choice is ours. He has offered us all He can.

Today’s Testimony: While sitting in my first exam for this last semester a car alarm started going off. I figured the car probably belonged to someone else in the exam room and therefore wasn’t going to be silenced very soon. An alarm going off in the middle of an exam does not exactly contribute to concentration, so I prayed that the Lord would intervene. The alarm immediately stopped, but then immediately continued going off again. I prayed again and then diverted my attention back to my exam paper. A while later I realized that the car alarm had stopped.
I had prayed for the alarm to stop, but the Lord chose rather to help me to drown out the sound and focus on my exam paper. Then later He intervened and the alarm stopped, but I was totally unaware that it stopped when it did.
We’ve all had problems. We’ve all had troubles that attract out entire attention – trials that we wish would disappear. Sometimes God will intervene and remove our problems, but other times He may choose to help us to rather focus on the things that really matter and stop devoting our attention to our troubles. Stressing about them won’t help. Praying about them will help in one way or another – God knows what is best for each of us in every situation.
God answers prayer. He may not always answer them the way we would have liked, but He always answers. He knows how to deliver us from trials.

Today’s Task: No matter what trials you are facing, know that the Lord knows how to intervene. Trust His wisdom. Trust His love. Remember that God always knows what is best. Resist the temptation to give up and forsake the Lord – He hasn’t forsaken you. God is right there with you in every trial. He will bring you through. Choose to remain in Him. Trust Him.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You are good and that You are God. I thank You that You know how to deliver us from temptation and trial, and I thank You that You will if we ask you to and allow You to do so. I thank You that You will always do what’s best for us. Please help us to trust You. I pray that we will stand on Your side one day because we clung to You in the midst of temptation and trial, and not be found on the other side to reap the results of our sin. Please help us to remain faithful to You. I thank You that You care about Your children. Amen.

GOD KNOWS WHAT WE NEED

Today’s Text: And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. (Luke 12:29, 30)

Today’s Thoughts: Whenever we have needs that we cannot satisfy, we so often worry. It might be daily provisions, it might be medical matters, it may be any financial struggle, or any other stressing situation, but God knows exactly what we really need no matter what our trouble. He doesn’t want us to worry. He wants us to place our trust in Him and remember that He knows our every need and will intervene to provide it in accordance with His will. God loves us so much. He looks after all His children.

Today’s Testimony: One day, about three years ago, I noticed that although my toothpaste was at the end of the tube, it just didn’t seem to be running out. I didn’t need it to last any longer – I had a new tube waiting. So, seeing I didn’t need this miracle, I asked the Lord about it: “Lord, why is my toothpaste not finishing?” He answered, “Child, if I can provide the things you don’t need, how much more will I provide the things you do need.”
The Lord has always provided for my needs. I can’t say that I have always had enough faith to believe that He will, but after so many years of miracles, I really should start trusting Him more. He truly has never not come through for me – if only I could remember that whenever I face a trial. I invite you to trust Him fully to always do what’s best.
Just above where this story is recorded in my prayer diary, I wrote something that I’d heard a few days before: “Today’s test is tomorrow’s testimony”. Life’s not always easy, but we must remember that God knows what we truly need to happen in our lives and He will intervene in the way He knows best. We may face trials today, but if we keep trusting in God we will soon have a powerful testimony to share, because God always comes through for His children – believe it!

Today’s Task: Trust that God knows what you really need. Place every care and concern at His feet. He so often blesses us with the things that are not necessary – how much more will He bless us with the things that are necessary. Know that God loves you. Know that He cares about your every need. Please trust Him to intervene. And then when you’ve witnessed a miracle – please don’t forget to share the testimony. The whole world needs to see and know that God is good, and that God is love.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You so often bless us with things that are not needs. But more than that I thank You that You always bless us with the things that we do need. You know what’s truly best for us. Help us to realize that what we think is the best answer to our problems might not truly be best from Your all-seeing, all-knowing viewpoint. Please help us to trust You in all things, and to praise You no matter what the outcome. Help us to tell others what You’ve done for us. I thank You that You care about every single one of us. I thank You that You will always come through for us. We love You Lord. Amen.