The Bible calls the devil a thief, one who steals. Thieves do not just walk around looking at things. Neither do they usually bother to take worthless goods.  No! They steal things that are valuable to you.

John 10:10 paints a clear picture of this: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

David experiences the loss of a thief and the goodness of God's promises. It says in Samuel 30:10: "David pursued." He sought out the enemy and persisted in following God's word. Many Christians do not know how to pursue, and they become fearful at the thought of going into battle. God girds His people with "strength unto the battle," and He will subdue those who rise up against you (Psalm 18:39).

God is a giver, and devil is a taker. God restores, and devil steals. God recovers, and devil removes. God gives so much life that it is not just life; it is abundant life, or life that is so great that it flows out of you to touch others. Abundant life can be described as a cup that runs over with life, so much so that you have to drink from your saucer because your cup is overflowing.

Every miracle that took place happened with action on the part of the individual who was in need. Put your faith in God's Word like David and pursue your enemy/obstacles with confidence; God is able to bring all things to pass and He will subdue those who rise up against you and this includes subduing the ‘thief’ who comes to steal and destroy.

Psalm 18:39
You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.

- John W.

The word translated "fear" in many versions of the Bible comes from the Hebrew word yirah, which has a range of meaning in the Scriptures. Sometimes it refers to the fear we feel in anticipation of some danger or pain, but it can also can mean "awe" or "reverence."  In this latter sense, yirah includes the idea of wonder, amazement, mystery, astonishment, gratitude, admiration, and even worship (like the feeling you get when gazing from the edge of the Grand Canyon).

The "fear of the LORD" therefore includes an overwhelming sense of the glory, worth, and beauty of the One True God. Some of the sages link the word yirah (יִרְאָה) with the word for seeing (רָאָה). When we really see life as it is, we will be filled with wonder and awe over the glory of it all. Every bush will be aflame with the Presence of God and the ground we walk upon shall suddenly be perceived as holy. Nothing will seem small, trivial, or insignificant.

Abraham Heschel wrote, " Awe is a sense for transcendence... to feel in the rush of the passing stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe".

He continued by quoting, "The awe of God is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10) ... For the Christian, this wisdom ultimately is revealed in the love of God as demonstrated in the sacrificial death of His Son. We were both created and redeemed in order to know, love, and worship God forever.

Malachi 3:16 
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.

- Excerpt taken from http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/Summaries/Eikev/Yirah/yirah.html-

A bar of steel worth five dollars, when wrought into horseshoes, is worth ten dollars. If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars; if into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars; if into springs for watches it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

Be encouraged dear friends if you are undergoing "drilling or hammering times." May this parable help us to be silent, still, and long-suffering. Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God is getting the most out of us, for His glory and the blessing of others.

Isaiah 41:15
See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

- Anonymous

All throughout ages in human society, greater value and respect have always been allotted to the ones who “who do what they say versus those “who promise but do not do.” We then determine their character through their integrity and propensity to keep their word. A person who values their commitments invariably builds a feeling of confidence, trust and faith in the hearts and minds of others.

What a relief to know that our God is the ultimate covenant and promise keeper.

There is no doubt that God’s promises remain true and available for us even today. But in order to effectively activate His blessings in our lives, we need to go beyond just knowing His promises; we need to confess them; to speak them out in faith. Start this moment!

Numbers 23:19
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

- K.H

Such a  powerful scripture to meditate and ponder upon. May you be blessed in reading it.

Romans 8: 26 - 39 (MSG)

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture...

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955) was one of the most remarkable black women of her time. A graduate of Moody Bible Institute, she opened a school for black girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. From 1935–1944 she was a special advisor on minority affairs to President Franklin Roosevelt. 

She was the first black woman to head a federal agency and worked to see that blacks were integrated into the military. She also served as a consultant on interracial affairs at the charter conference of the United Nations. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women and was director of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration. The fifteenth of seventeen children born to slave parents, she came to have unrestricted access to the White House during Roosevelt’s life.

I admire those who are the first to do anything because the one who goes first endures more opposition than those who follow later. They are pioneers, and they open the way and pay the price for future generations.

Acts 16:15 
And when she [Lydia] was baptized along with her household, she earnestly entreated us, saying, If in your opinion I am one really convinced [that Jesus is the Messiah and the Author of salvation] and that I will be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she induced us [to do it].

-From the book T"he Confident Woman Devotional: 365 Daily Devotions"  by Joyce Meyer-

In John 5, we read about a man who had been sick for 38 years. That is a long time. But then Jesus saw him and asked, "Do you want to be made well?", "Arise, take up your mat and walk." Immediately, the man was made well, took up his mat and walked. I’m definitely amazed with this miracle!

Now let's talk be honest about our own lives; many of us may have been experiencing problems or trials for years and years where it could have been translated to “being sick for 38 years” metaphorically. Maybe it is our love life where we constantly face rejection over and over again or a spouse or loved ones who continuously let us down, it could be that nagging financial worries as we strive to secure a stable job and perhaps it is a sickness that has deflate all your hopes of ever being cured.

We are human after all and often we will start to doubt if we can make it, if good things are ever going to come our way. Let's not give up. We can say to the Lord " With You, I can make it. It is possible with You."

The story in John 5 would have been different if the sick man had said to the Lord Jesus "Lord, how can You tell me to rise and walk? I have been sick for 38 long years! It's impossible." Nevertheless, the man did not argue with the Lord, nor did he reason. He simply rose up and walked.

When we rise up in the morning, let's be hopeful and not remember our failures or disappointments. Let's just walk with God and say, "Today, You and me Lord, we can do this, it's not too hard, it's possible with You."

Mark 9:23 
If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for one who believes


Luke 1:37 
For with God nothing shall be impossible

- Diven

Growing up as a kid, I always wonder if there is a place that I could be myself and not be found different. My family travelled when I was a child and I had to settle into different schools and countries. Maintaining friendships and learning new languages was a challenge.

My parents are also of different nationalities and I grew up with the combination of both cultures hence it made me ‘different’ in the way I think and act. Most times, I felt I was not fitting in or ‘different’ to the locals.

I knew no better but everything changed when Jesus came to my life. I no longer question where I could belong because God places me where I should be. My identity is also found in Him; I’m the child of the Most High who clothes me with righteousness and bestows never-ending mercy and grace. I’m unique and He has made me the way I’m for a purpose. Everything that He has allowed me to go through is to mold a character for a greater purpose.

This may be my faith but wouldn’t it be great if it could be a testimony for you. The unique personality God has given me as a child was a blessing in disguise. I thank God for allowing me to embrace many changes since young and learn the joy of embarking to the unknown just because I know I will not be alone in facing it. Mum and dad taught me that so how much more my God will affirm it? After all, I’m His child and I belong to Him.

Galatians 3:26
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith

- Irene Soon

I once met a woman who earned a precarious living by hard daily labor; but who was a joyous triumphant Christian.

“Ah, Nancy,” said a gloomy Christian lady to her one day, "it is well enough to be happy now; but I think the thoughts of your future should sober you. “Only suppose, for instance, you become sick and be unable to work; or suppose your present employers go bankrupt, and no one else gives you work; or suppose..” “Stop!” cried Nancy, “I never supposes. The Lord is my Shepherd and I know I shall not want. And, honey,” she added, to her gloomy friend, “It’s all them supposes that is making you so miserable. You better give them all up and just trust the Lord!”

Nancy displayed such trust in the Lord despite the unstable conditions her life was in. She has resolved to know not of any ‘supposes’ because the Lord is her Shepherd. How humbling is Nancy’s trust, is it of no wonder that she understood the true joy of being a Christian.  Resolve to know that we are well taken care of by the good Shepherd so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me

Hebrew 13:6
So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

- Anonymous

When you were younger, were you often scolded for not finishing all your food or leaving the lights and fan on when you left your room? Were you constantly reminded that there are people starving in the world, that electricity costs a lot of money and that money doesn’t grow on trees? Now, do you find yourself telling your child the same things?

We are naturally conscious of lack, but Jesus isn’t. Even in the midst of lack, He was always conscious of abundance. Remember the little boy’s five loaves and two fish? What did Jesus do when these were placed in His hands? Did He say, “What do you expect Me to do with so little?” No, His eyes were not on the natural, the visible, the lack. His eyes were on the kingdom of God where there is always abundance. So in His hands, the little boy’s lunch was multiplied, and 5,000 men, not counting women and children, were fed that day! (John 6:1–13)

God doesn’t want you to be conscious of the lack in your natural circumstances. He doesn’t want you to live by how much you earn or how much you have in the bank. Now, I am not encouraging you to spend foolishly beyond your means. I am saying that God wants you to be conscious of the abundance of resources in His kingdom.

“But Pastor Prince, where is that kingdom?” As long as you have received Jesus as your Savior, that kingdom is in you!

Jesus said that “the kingdom of God is within you”. This means that the kingdom of God is not some physical place. It is within you and it is where the abundance of resources is. So if you want to experience abundance in your life, be conscious first of the abundance inside you. Then, what is inside you will become a reality on the outside.

Beloved, God doesn’t want you to be conscious of the lack you see outside you. He wants you to be conscious of the abundance within you because His kingdom is within you!

Luke 17:21
 ...For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you].

- Daily Grace Inspirations by Joseph Prince-