Psalm 1:6

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Isaiah 40:29

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 Today's Thought: It is through the strength of the Lord that we can continue serving Him. 


Youthful vigor, sometimes, makes us forget that this strength will soon deplete. It is during this time that man thinks of possessing personal might. Tiredness and weariness are far-fetched ideas during youth. But as years come by, youthfulness fades, and the strength of yesterdays is also lost.  

Isaiah is a prophet who greatly depended on the grace and work of the Lord in his life. This passage of the scripture shows the dependence of Isaiah on the strength of the Lord to keep him on track for what the Lord had in store for him. There is "enabling" of the Lord that empowers a dependent person to find his strength on Him. 

However, this strength and empowerment from the Lord only comes to them to who faithfully wait upon the Lord. On our own, we are frail and weak, but with the Lord we could find new strength to continue serving Him. Let us wait upon the Lord to renew our strength, to give us the vigor and excitement for what He has in store.

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Today's Thought: You cannot be faithful to the Lord while loving the world.

Harrold Adrian Russell Philby or Kim was a high ranking British intelligence officer who worked as a double agent for Soviet Union. While Philby had been decorated in the United Kingdom as an intelligence officer, he was secretly providing the Soviet Union with crucial information. He eventually got an assylum in the USSR and had a Soviet citizenship thereafter.

In the passage of the scripture, Jesus Christ talks about double agents. They are serving the Lord but having allegiance to the devil and the world. Jesus talks of future actions on the one who serves two masters. While it seems that serving two masters may work at first, it will eventually come into light and that person will choose one.

Let us be diligent in doing the will of the Lord, and not fall into temptation of leading two lives. Let us be aware on how the devil frames his proposal: you can serve me and God at same time. These are proposals that will eventually keep us away from the track of the Lord. It is just impossible to serve God and mammon.

Psalm 38:9

Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

Today's Thought: The Lord is always ready to make your burden of sin light if you come to Him. 

David is the man who had depended on God several times. In almost every situation and circumstance of his life, David had drawn strength from the Lord. When pain and battles were too much for him, David knew that the Lord's hand was ready to defend him. 

In this passage of the scripture David had been defeated by his own sin. He acknowledged that "for mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me." The conviction of sin had been overwhelming that it crushed its weight on his life, on his vitality (he speaks of the loathsome disease), his loss of inner peace, and his wisdom. Because of this, David confessed " for I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin." 

Let us not wait for the flood of sin to drown us, let us always come to the Lord for confession and forgiveness. Only the Lord God has the balm that can heal our iniquities and He is ready to heal us. What we need to do is come and confess.

Psalm 101:1

 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

In 1924, two climbers were part of an expedition that set out to conquer Mount Everest. As far as is known, they never reached the summit; and they never returned. After the failure of the expedition, the rest of the party returned home. Addressing a meeting in London, one of those who returned described the ill-fated adventure. He then turned to a huge photograph of Mount Everest, mounted on the wall behind him.

"Everest," he cried, "we tried to conquer you once, but you overpowered us. We tried to conquer you a second time, but again you were too much for us. But, Everest, I want you to know that we are going to conquer you, for you can't grow any bigger, and we can!"  

When we are in troubles and it seems dark, let us be more ready and willing to grow our faith in the Lord. Our problems won't grow bigger but our faith can always grow bigger than any problem we are going to face. Let us be reminded of this psalm to sing of the Lord's mercy and judgment amidst the trials we are in. When faith is placed in a dark room, it creates notes on the wall to exclaim the goodness of the Lord like what Paul and Silas did.

There is always victory in Jesus as faith conquers fleshly desires, carnal reasons, and the sea of despair. Faith sings unto the Lord of grace notes and melodies as the storm passes by. We are expected to conquer for faith does.