Day 123

GOD’S GREATNESS IS UNSEARCHABLE

Today’s Text: Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.(Psalm 145:3)

Today’s Thoughts: Our God is great and I have no doubts. Our God is good – always good and only good and I have no doubts about that either. Our God deserves our praise. We truly cannot understand His ways and His greatness, but we can definitely trust Him because we know that He loves us.

Today’s Testimony: Today I’m going to share the amazing testimony of how the Lord intervened as my Tutor once again. For one of my modules this semester I was required to conduct an interview for my second assignment. This was a busy semester and I also had three other subjects to see to, so I had to apply for an extension. My lecturer didn’t respond to my application, but I was still unable to complete my assignment by the due date. UNISA then granted all students an extension for all the second assignments for the second semester modules due to a postal strike. I was extremely glad for the extension, but that only helped me to be able to submit another assignment on time. I had two assignments submitted, and two outstanding. There is another amazing testimony concerning the other assignment, but that I’ll share tomorrow. I finally came to the conclusion that I would have to simply submit my assignment late and have it returned to me unmarked and accept the standard mark for late assignments which I think is 50%.
My assignment consisted of interviewing someone who had experienced or was experiencing a crisis and then to compile a report. I firstly couldn’t decide who to interview, and then I had to formulate and conduct the interview. I knew I had to submit something, but especially seeing, as it would be late, my assignment would not be marked and I would only get 50% for it, I was not very enthusiastic about completing it. My assignment was due on the 12th of September and the UNISA website where we go to submit our assignments had a problem around the 19th of September and assignments due then could not be submitted. UNISA gave notification that any assignments that were due on those dates were granted an extension. Mine was however due seven days before that, so that extension didn’t help me. But then a few days later, for some or other “strange reason”, which I know was my God’s intervention, I received notification that all assignments that were due between the 12th (my due date) and the 19th of September were granted an extension until the 7th of October. There was no logical reason why an extension should be granted for assignments due seven days before the 19th, but my God is good and can work miracles for His people.
I then knew that seeing the Lord had intervened for me I had to try my best to get this assignment submitted on time. This blessing also gave me the energy I needed to complete the assignment. I submitted the assignment on time and when I received my results I had gotten a good mark for it. God is so good – always good, and only good!

Today’s Task: God is so great! We truly cannot search and understand His ways and His dealings with His people. Praise Him for His greatness. Trust Him in all things. He cares about you. His love for us is so great – love Him back!

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You are great enough to help Your people. I praise You that You are loving enough to help your people. Your greatness is unsearchable, so we just stand in awe and trust and praise. I thank You for Your love and care. I praise You and thank You in Christ’s name, Amen.

Day 122

GOD BLESSES THOSE WHO FEAR HIM

 

Today’s Text: He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. (Psalm 115:13)

Today’s Thoughts: God will bless those who fear Him. He is not a respecter of persons, He will bless all people if they choose Him as their God. If God will bless people no matter how small or great they are He is also able to and will bless us with blessings no matter how small or great they are. He knows what we need and what we desire, and He will bless us out of His love and wisdom. God cares about all of us so much – make sure He is your God.

Today’s Testimony: One morning a short while before I got up to have breakfast one of our neighbours phoned to ask if we had electricity. We then discovered that our power was out. Seeing it was already light outside we didn’t have too much of a problem with not being able to use electricity.
When I came to have breakfast, however, I popped some toast into the toaster and pushed the button down, and then sadly remembered that I was unable to make toast. Breakfast is usually a sweet meal, and seeing I haven’t got much of a sweet-tooth I usually like to either end on something savoury, or sometimes even eat a savoury breakfast instead. That day was one of those mornings that I decided to have a savoury breakfast, but now I couldn’t have the toast I had planned to.
Firstly, I asked the Lord to please put the power back on because I really wanted some toast, and then I started preparing a bowl of cereal. By the time I had finished eating my fruit and was ready for my main course, the power went back on. My sister said something about it being “unfair” that the power went on in time for my breakfast, but I thought it was absolutely amazing that God intervened for something as unnecessary as the power going on so I could make toast.
I wish I had had more faith and waited on the Lord to intervene as I asked Him to, because seeing I had already put the cereal in my bowl I decided to eat it. I did make and eat toast, but I couldn’t manage to eat all four slices that I’d toasted.
I learned, once again, that we need to have more faith when we ask the Lord to intervene for us, and I also was once again reminded that God is interested in the small things in our lives and loves to intervene for His children. We truly do serve a loving and amazing Heavenly Father who loves to bless us with big things as well as little things.

Today’s Task: Fear the Lord. Make Him your God today. He loves you and longs to bless you. He knows what we need and what is best – ask Him. He blesses both small and great and He can bless us with blessings that are small and great too – trust Him. He also knows what will make us smile. God loves to bless His children. Choose to fear the Lord and make Him smile.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You love each of us the same and love to bless all of Your children. Help us to fear You and make You our God. Help us to come to You and ask no matter how small or great our needs and desires are and then help us to trust You to do what’s best. I thank You for Your great love. Please help us to live to please You and make You smile. We love You Lord. Amen.

Day 121

MY HELP COMES FROM THE LORD

 

Today’s Text: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:2)

Today’s Thoughts: Where is the first place that we run when we have a problem, decision to make or other need? Do we run to the Lord or to someone or something else? God made heaven and earth – He is in control. He has the power to intervene in every situation. We need to learn to turn to Him for help. Our greatest source of help will definitely come from the Lord who cares about us more than anyone else ever will, and not from any other source. I invite you to place your trust in Him alone and, like the psalmist, confidently say, “My help comes from the Lord”.

Today’s Testimony: Have you ever heard people say that God has given us the wisdom to make simple decisions for ourselves? They say we don’t need to ask the Lord what we should wear, eat or drink, or small issues like that, on a particular day, provided that all the options will be pleasing in his sight. If they aren’t, I suppose we shouldn’t be asking anyway, because we would already know the answer. I agree totally with the fact that God has given us the wisdom we need to make our own simple decisions, but sometimes I will wake up in the morning, go to my cupboard and say, “Lord, what should I wear today”. Not that I “need” Him to make the decision for me, but I like inviting Him to be a part of my decision-making anyway. And on top of that, I “can” decide for myself, but He might know better what I should wear that day. I ask and He helps me decide. Now if this is sounding odd to you, let me share a story of how it really helped one day.
I went to my cupboard one morning and that day I asked the Lord for help deciding what to wear. I knew what I wanted to wear, but I have two different colours of the top I wanted to wear. “Should I wear the pink one or the black one?” I decided to wear the black one, but I know that God’s wisdom was involved in my decision because I’d ask Him for help. A bit later that day when our family was getting in the car to go out on a picnic and walk at a nature reserve, my top got hooked on the picnic basket as we tried to move it from its seat next to me and my top got a little hole in it. If I had been wearing the pink top that shade of pink would have been very difficult to match in order to stitch, but the black one obviously would be easy to match and fix. God knew what would happen in my day, and He therefore guided me to wear the right top that day. God is so good! He can help us with anything and everything – the little things too!

Today’s Task: Make the Lord your helper. Let all your help come from the Lord. He is willing and waiting for you to ask Him for help. Allow God to be a part of every aspect of your life – you will not regret it. Invite Him to help you with even the small decisions you have to make. God cares about you!

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You are willing to help us with all our problems, decisions and needs. Please teach us to turn to You and You alone when we need help. I praise You for the help You have blessed us with in the past and I praise You for help that You are still willing to give us. Please help us to trust You more. I thank You for being our Helper. Amen.

Day 120

GOD CARES ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS

Today’s Text: But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matthew 10:30)

Today’s Thoughts: Does it matter to you that every hair on your head is numbered? Does it matter to you when one or two fall out? God often included the hairs on the head in His promises of protection saying that not even a hair on their heads would perish. What a way to promise protection! If even our hairs are safe – then the rest of us has nothing to fear. God knows how many hairs you have on your head and he knows when one of them falls out. A friend once said that this statement tells us that God even knows which hair fell out, seeing they are all numbered. Such a tiny and insignificant thing to us, but God cares. If God cares about the little things in life that we may even see as unimportant, how much more does He care about the big things in life that do matter?! We truly serve an amazing and loving God!

Today’s Testimony: Today I’m going to share a strange story, but it tells that God cares even about the little things.
Toothpaste usually comes with one of two different types of caps: a flip-top cap or a screw-on cap. The toothpaste I use usually always came with a flip-top cap. The other day my toothpaste came to an end and as I was about to throw the empty tube away the Lord sent the thought, “Keep the cap in case the next tube has a screw-on cap.” It doesn’t really matter what type of cap I have, but it would be preferable to be able to choose if I wanted to remain with a flip-top cap if the cap had changed. I argued with that thought for a few seconds and then finally took the cap off and left it on the basin’s counter-top and threw the tube away.
Later when I opened the new box of toothpaste and took out the tube… ok, you’re probably expecting this, but the tube of toothpaste had a screw-on cap instead of the usual flip-top cap. I didn’t change the cap after all, but I still have the cap if I ever change my mind.
This might seem like a silly little story, and it is, but to me it speaks an extremely important message that God cares! He cares about the little unimportant things! He cares about the big extremely important things! And He cares about all the things in between! My God cares! Believe it!

Today’s Task: Take all your problems to the Lord – He cares! It doesn’t matter how small or how big they may seem to you – it matters to God because He cares about you and He can help you. Know that if your life is in the Lord’s hands you can have peace that He will protect you. Always remember that God knows and does what is best for us. Thank Him for His love and care.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I thank You that You care about even the little things. I thank You that what matters to us matters to You. Please help us to trust You. I thank You that You will do what is best in our lives. I thank You that You love us so much. I thank You that You care. I praise You and thank You in Christ’s name, Amen.

Day 119

BE A TRUE FRIEND

Today’s Text: A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

Today’s Thoughts: No one likes to be in a one-sided friendship. True friendship is when there is mutual love, trust, giving and taking and whatever else is necessary, but it is all twoway. If we want friends – the bottom line is that we must be friendly. A true friend like that will often be a more faithful friend than a blood-relative. We all need and long for that type of friend. I hope we all strive to be that type of friend too. Ultimately, there is only one Friend that we can rely on without reserve and know that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of that Friend, and that Friend is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is no Friend like Him.

Today’s Testimony: I love people! Many of the people that know me will agree that I am a very friendly person. Normally I am quite relaxed to speak to or befriend a total stranger. I love making new friends. Most attempts to be friendly work. Most people will be more than willing to exchange a greeting and a smile. Today I’d like to share my favourite story of making a new friend that happened a few years ago.
A new tenant had moved in to the one granny-flat next door. The gentleman appeared pretty serious and gruff to me at first. I’d greet him and get no more than a casual greeting back – no smile. Then, seeing I’d done my best to try and befriend this neighbour, the Lord stepped in.
Firstly, let me tell you the ingredients the Lord needed, and then you’ll need to follow the story to see how each one of them fitted in and was totally necessary. This might sound like one of the weirdest testimonies you’ve heard so far, but God works in ways we never would have thought of. To form a friendship between me and my neighbour the Lord used: guineapigs, a dog, a boy, a bunny and some Japanese quail. Ready to hear?
It was a Monday afternoon and I was going outside in the front garden to see to the guineapigs that we had at the time. Family of ours had gone away for a while and we were looking after their small dog. Seeing I’m the animal lover in my family, this dog stuck by me most of the time. He therefore came with me to sort out the guinea-pigs. While we were busy with them, I heard someone calling from the other side of the garden. I looked up and saw a boy hanging over the wall trying to get the dog’s attention. I therefore left the piggies for a moment and took the dog over to visit the boy. I held the dog up so he could stroke him a bit and then I had a brief conversation with the boy. I asked him if he lived there, seeing that house has a few granny flats, and he said, no, his mom’s boyfriend lived there. From that I gathered that it was the newest tenant next door.
The following Monday while I was seeing to Blobby, my new bunny at the time, whose cage was near the wall the boy had been hanging over, I heard strange noises coming from nextdoor. Eventually I saw the culprit, the little boy, poking over the wall, making the noise and then ducking. Finally he stopped and just hung over the wall for a while a little bit away from where I was. I then asked him a question, and seeing he didn’t hear the first time, he moved closer. We then had a good conversation until my neighbour came along. He asked me what type of birds those were that we had in the cages nearby, I replied, “Quail”, and then the two of them left.
 I never saw the boy again, but a while later when I was seeing to Blobby again, in his new pen right opposite my neighbour’s door, my neighbour came out and asked me what type of birds I said those were. He’d looked them up and they looked more like another type of bird. I then told him that they were not normal quail but Japanese quail. From that day forward we would often greet and have a brief chat when he was arriving or leaving home while I was busy with Blobby.
God wants us to be friendly and make friends for His glory. I did not see any positive results from that friendship, but he knew I was a Christian, and one day when we get to heaven I hope that this story will be completed with me meeting my neighbour and hearing him say, “I saw that you had something that I needed, and I’m here today because of you.” I want to keep making friends and I hope that every single one of them will be friends that I can keep for all eternity. Will you be one of those friends?

Today’s Task: Be a true Friend. Be friendly to everyone you meet. You never know what an impact you can make on someone. There are so many people dying in need of a Saviour – maybe you can be a friend to one or more of those people and introduce them to your Best Friend. Do your part to make friends and God will intervene. He knows where each one of His lost sheep is. Help the Lord to bring them home.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You are the greatest Friend we will ever have. I thank You that You are a faithful Friend. Please help us to find and befriend your lost sheep. Help us to introduce them to You. Lord, we want friends, and we want to be able to keep them for all eternity. Help us to be friends – true friends. I thank You that You can intervene to form friendships when we can do no more. We love You! Amen.

Day 118

GOD HEARS WHEN WE PRAY

Today’s Text: And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. (1John 5:14, 15)

Today’s Thoughts: If we ask God for anything and He knows that it is in our best interest He hears us. We do not have to keep praying for that same thing in order to be heard. I’m not saying that we should only take our petitions to the Lord once – the reason for repeating our requests is for another reason. I’m simply emphasizing the fact that God hears each of our prayers as soon as we pray them. Our text then tells us that if God has heard our prayers, which He has, then we can know that He is busy answering them. And yet we need to remember and be thankful that He will answer in the way that is best for us. God has a time for everything, we just need to be patient and wait in faith for Him to intervene when He knows the time is best.

Today’s Testimony: A while ago someone gave me a quote by my favourite author and asked me to write a song about it. I won’t share the quote here, but it was to do with what I shared in Today’s Thoughts. Today I simply want to share the words to the song and let them speak for themselves.

Lord I Praise You For Answered Prayers

The promises in Your Word we read
That if we pray You’ll help when we’re in need
Your promises are true
What You’ve said You will do
And so now by faith I will start praising You

Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
You have always intervened for me
Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
Though sometimes Your hand I’ve failed to see
Your ways are higher than mine
And You work in Your perfect time
But You’ve always come through
So for answered prayers I praise You

Lord sometimes we cannot see Your hand
But we know that on Your promise we can stand
So although Your work’s not done
We know that it’s begun
And so now by faith I will start praising You

Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
You have always intervened for me
Lord I praise You for answering my prayers
Though sometimes Your hand I’ve failed to see
Your ways are higher than mine
And You work in Your perfect time
But You’ve always come through
So for answered prayers I praise You

Lord You’ve always come through
So for answered prayers I praise You

Today’s Task: Take God at His word. Place your petitions before His throne and by faith believe that He has heard and is already intervening. God cares about you – believe it. Trust God’s wisdom to know and do what is truly best for you. Praise God for answering your prayers.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You for hearing and answering our prayers. Help us to believe by faith that You are intervening. I thank You that You will do what is best for us. I thank You that You care about us and will help us if we take our problems to You. I thank You for Your love. Amen.

Day 117

MY KINDNESS SHALL NOT DEPART

Today’s Text: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. (Isaiah 54:10)

Today’s Thoughts: Even if everything that seems so certain in life disappeared God will still remain. His kindness and His promise of peace shall never fade away. In God’s mercy He is always there for us. We can place our trust safely in Him. God loves us and is kind to His people. We truly do serve an amazing God!

Today’s Testimony: A few weeks ago some of my family members went to fetch a baby guinea-pig for someone from a friend of ours. We thought we’d have to look after it for a few days, and my family decided that if I had to look after it I’d get too attached, being the biggest animal lover in our home. Long story short – they came home with a fully-grown, long-haired guinea-pig for me as well. At first I didn’t know what to think. But he’s pretty cute.
I let him run around inside the house at some stage every day. At first he didn’t go very far. He usually stayed behind the book-case and the cabinet next to it in the lounge. Now he is a bit more daring. One night, before he started venturing out, he was still relaxing behind the book-case and cabinet while I did my chores in the kitchen when we suddenly had a powerfailure and I had to go find my “piggy” and put him to bed. When I was able to go look for him I went with a lamp and couldn’t see him. He normally stayed in that spot, but I thought that maybe in the dark he became brave and ventured away. I didn’t know how I was going to find my piggy in the dark if he’d wandered off somewhere – he could be anywhere. My stepdad had been busy out the front door a short while earlier while it was still light and for all I knew he could have even escaped then. It was pitch-dark and I couldn’t see my piggy in his normal place and I wasn’t even certain that he was even inside the house. I started calling him both by name and in the language (popping sounds) that he responds to. But he gave no reply. My two sisters then came to help me look. With someone to hold the lamp, another with a candle and three of us to look we were able to spot him in his usual hiding place – he hadn’t ventured out anywhere. It’s hard enough to catch him with the lights on because he hates being put away, but it didn’t take too long to catch him in the dark.
God is so good and so kind! He looked after my piggy and kept him safe. I was concerned when I couldn’t find him, but God knew exactly where he was. He knew that my piggy was exactly where he was meant to be – I just couldn’t see him. God knows all our problems and he knows the answers. We just need to place our trust in Him. God cares about each one of us and is so kind even when we get ourselves into the mess. We serve a wonderful God!

Today’s Task: If life seems to be crumbling before your feet remember that God’s love, kindness and care will never pass away. He is always there for you. Take every trouble to Him. He is merciful and cares about your well-being. Trust Him – He will not let you down.

Today’s Thanks: Lord I thank You that You care about us when we don’t deserve Your care. I thank You that You are kind to us. Please help us to treat You with the love and respect You deserve. I thank You for Your great love. Please help us to learn from You and be kind and merciful to others. You love us so much Lord – help us to love You back. Amen.