Day 125

GOD IS TOUCHED WITH OUR GRIEF

Today’s Text: For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Today’s Thoughts: Many people have heard about Jesus coming to Earth as a baby, living here preaching and healing, giving his life for us, being resurrected and then ascending to Heaven. But do you know what He is doing right now? The text before our text for today tells us that the High Priest mentioned in today’s text is Jesus. He is interceding on your behalf and my behalf to His heavenly Father so that our sins can be forgiven. He died in our place and if we accept that sacrifice He will plead His blood in our place. The greatest thing about our High Priest, as the text says, is that He knows what we are going through. He knows the battles we fight against sin. He is touched with the grief we feel when we have sinned. He cares! He loves us! He wants to help us to resist temptation as He did when He was here. He doesn’t want us to sin, and we should accept His power to stop, but I praise Him that if we do sin, He does not cast us off. James 2:1 says: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” God is ready to plead for us when we fall. What an amazing love!

Today’s Testimony: Today I’d like to share the words of another one of my songs. A friend of mine was in trouble and I felt empathy like I’ve never felt before. I couldn’t sleep the night after I heard, I lost my appetite for about four days and battled to eat, and I felt really strange. I asked the Lord how to describe what was going on inside and He put it this way: “Your heart is crying with him.” Then the Lord told me that that was how he felt and He inspired this song.

God’s Heart Is Crying with You

After sin when the heart just wants to break

And you would do anything to erase your mistake

Though you may feel condemned there’s one thing you must know

God’s arms are wrapped around you and He will never let you go

God’s heart is crying with you

For He knows what you’re going through

All that He wants you to know

Is that He really loves you so

God’s heart is crying with you

For He’s sharing your heartache too

God’s heart is crying, crying with you

Now you stand before the Lord overwhelmed with guilt

But He says, “Child it was for you that My blood was spilt

I do not condemn you; your sin’s what I died for

Your sin I have forgiven, go and sin no more”

God’s heart is crying with you

For He knows what you’re going through

All that He wants you to know

Is that He really loves you so

God’s heart is crying with you

For He’s sharing your heartache too

God’s heart is crying, crying with you

But He knows you still will pay a high price for your sin

So with all the consequences He wants to give you peace within

He has a mighty shoulder to cry on, as His chest you lean upon

His greatest concern is you now, so He grants you strength to go on

God’s heart is crying with you

For he knows what you’re going through

All that He wants you to know

Is that He really loves you so

God’s heart is crying with you

For He’s sharing your heartache too

God’s heart is crying, crying with you

God’s heart is crying, crying with you

Today’s Task: Ever felt bitter grief after sinning? Ever felt condemned by God? Ever felt that there was no hope for you – that you’d gone too far and it was too late? God knows what you’re going through. He feels your pain. He wants you to sense His presence as He wraps His loving arms around you and cries with you. If you know of someone who the world condemns – dare to be different. Show them God. Let them know that He is still there and still loves them. There are many hurting people drowning in guilt – God cares!

Today’s Thanks: Dear Lord, I thank You that You love us so much! I thank You that You do not leave us to bear the consequences of sin alone, but that You are right there with us with Your arms of love around us as You cry with us. I praise You that You know what we’re going through and feel our pain. I thank You that You intercede on our behalf so that we can be forgiven. Please help us to live in You and flee from sin. We love You, Lord. Amen.

Day 124

GOD’S MERCIFUL KINDNESS IS GREAT TOWARD US

Today’s Text: O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise Him, all ye people. For His merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD. (Psalm 117:1,2)

Today’s Thoughts: These texts tell us to praise the Lord for His merciful kindness. God is kind to us, that is one thing – but merciful kindness is a totally different thing. The fact that His kindness is merciful tells us that we deserve it in no way, and rather, that we deserve the opposite. We so often disappoint our God, but how many times does He disappoint us? God does not disappoint us unless we would only have one way, and then the disappointment is self-chosen seeing God always does what is best for us. God’s merciful kindness is truly great toward us. Even though we are mainly focusing on just the first part of these texts, I’m going to add a few thoughts on the second piece. God’s truth endures forever. There are so many different things that we can believe, but we need to know what is God’s truth and what is not. God’s truth will endure for ever – His truth is important. It is so important for us to know the truth about God and His ways. His truth can only be found in His Holy Word, the Bible. It is true that my God is mercifully kind; this is one of His truths and I’m glad that it endures forever!

Today’s Testimony: Yesterday I mentioned that there was another assignment that has an amazing testimony. That subject was Zulu for my African Languages module. The first assignment was multiple-choice and I completed that one without too much trouble. The second assignment was a written assignment and I was having quite a struggle to obtain the correct answers. I applied for an extension, but received no reply. I, once again, forfeited all the due dates and extensions due to completing my other assignments and, as I mentioned yesterday, this was a rough semester. I completed all I could and then gave the assignment to a friend whose mother tongue is Zulu so she could help me. But this was already pretty late and the exam period soon arrived and I realized that I’d better just submit what I had so I could at least get the 50% which, as far as I know, is the mark received for late assignments. I feared that I had already missed that and would receive 0%. I submitted what I had and was informed that my assignment was accepted but was late, which I knew. Then I had to wait to see if I would get my 50% or 0%, in which case I would have been upset with myself for not just submitting my assignment earlier.
I finally received my mark. I didn’t get 0%. I didn’t even get 50%. I received 70% for my half-completed, extremely late assignment. God is SO good!!! I’m not sure if I’ll ever find out the truth regarding the marks for this assignment, but all I know is that God blessed. I should have gotten 50% or 0%, but my God was merciful and intervened and I got 70%.

Today’s Task: Praise the Lord for His merciful kindness. Do not take advantage of God’s mercy and neglect to do what’s right in the first place, but when you need it, ask Him to forgive and bless you. Learn from Your God and ask Him to help you to be merciful to others. I encourage you to spend time reading God’s Word every day searching for truth. Truth is vitally important! Place Your life in God’s hands and follow Him wherever He leads.

Today’s Thanks: O, Lord, I praise You that You are mercifully kind! I thank You that You didn’t give up on us, but in Your mercy, You died in our place and gave us another chance. Please help us not to disappoint You, but to make Your sacrifice worthwhile. Lord I thank You that You are always there for us, even when we get ourselves into trouble. Help us to walk as You would have us walk right from the start instead. I praise You for Your great love. Amen.

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.