A thought for today 

Made perfect (Thursday, August 28)

God’s love for us and through us allows us to live each day with faith and hope. No matter what we are facing, we know that his divine love is there to heal, comfort and guide. As he loves us, we can love others. As we love them, they are able to see God through us.

The love that comes down from the Father is unlike anything we commonly call love. His love transcends both our capacity and our capability. But he is able to use us to show the world a higher way. When we sacrifice our needs and our desires for another person, even someone we do not know, we display the love of God. When we give up our time or money to help the helpless and homeless, we demonstrate the love of God. When we forfeit our earthly possessions to serve the church, we reveal the love of God. When we surrender our lives for what is unseen in the future, we prove the love of God.

What we do because of his love makes little sense to many people. Yet, some are able to see and understand. They realize they are looking at something that far exceeds anything here on earth. Through us, as imperfect and insufficient as we are, God shows the world his perfect love.

His plan (Wednesday, August 27)

We have the wrong idea about ourselves. We think that God does more when we do more. What we fail to realize is that our “more” is not always what God wants. Sometimes God can do the most in our lives when we do the least.

Maybe he wants us to be still, to let him gently guide us and steer us in his direction. We are created to follow him, not for him to follow us. But often that is exactly what happens: he must come behind us and fix what we have undone. He has to correct our mistakes before he can do anything else.

Whenever we take matters into our own hands we are taking matters out of his hand. We do it all of the time because we believe we are helping. God does not need my help or yours. His sole desire is to use us for his glory. The only way for this to happen is to let him lead us.

He knows the future. He lives and works well beyond our present circumstances. The best way for us to help God is to follow his will and forget about what we feel he needs. He will give us what we require if we can get out of his way. We need to go after his plan rather than him always going after us.

One person (Tuesday, August 26)

God has a way of doing big things in little ways. In Calcutta, India, God was able to comfort tens of thousands who were sick and dying through an old woman. On a dairy farm outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, God raised up a boy who would tell millions everywhere about the good news of salvation. In Agoura Hills, California, God is using a quadriplegic to minister to the world. Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and Joni Eareckson Tada dedicated what little they possessed so that God could make a big difference in the world.

David was a shepherd boy before he became king. Peter was a fisherman before he became a fisher of men. Matthew was a tax collector before he gave up everything to serve the true kingdom. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son before he became the father of many nations. Joseph was abandoned and sold off by his own brothers before he became pharaoh’s adviser.

Where you and I have been in our lives before does not matter. All that is important is where we are going, where God is taking us. He can do incredible, miraculous things through one person. History has proved his authority time and time again. How much more do we need to see and read before we believe in what he is going to do in our lives?

We do not know how God plans to use us in the future. Even though we might think there is nothing he can do through us – perhaps because of our smallness or weakness – we would be wrong. God says he has begun a good work in us. He will certainly finish what he started. If we give up on ourselves, we are actually giving up on the power and greatness of God himself.

Today's daily bread (Monday, August 25)

What we need from God today is different than what we needed yesterday or what we will need tomorrow. When we pray for Our Father to give us our daily bread, we are asking him to help us meet our special needs this day.

The circumstances of this hour are unique. Each day unfolds in a distinct way even though we might go through the same routine. All around us the world is changing. God can give us the strength, wisdom and ability to cope with every situation that arises in the next 24 hours, whether it is something small or large.

Much of our time, however, is spent in looking back or thinking ahead. We tend to live outside the moment. Our minds often take us away from where we are and what we are doing now. In a way, we are guilty of distracting ourselves by our own thoughts and concerns; we follow worries and anxieties rather than reason.

God will give us our daily bread for today. If we do not receive it, perhaps it is because we are trying to live on the daily bread from the past or the future. Nothing else will satisfy us right now than what God is providing for us this day.

One with the Father (Sunday, August 24)

Whenever we feel lost, confused or overwhelmed, the Holy Spirit cries out to the Lord on our behalf. Even when we do not know what is wrong with us, whether it is a sense of hopelessness or despair, God is with us. We are never left alone, not even for a minute. God is with us always although we believe we are far away.

There always will be times of doubt and uncertainty in our lives. We may wonder if the Father really sees what we are going through. We might question his purpose in allowing us to suffer physically or mentally. We can, perhaps, resent what he has permitted to come against us. Maybe we believe he is punishing us for some reason.

Through it all, though, he is right there working in and through us. His very Spirit is interceding for us, seeking God’s blessing, guidance, wisdom and comfort. We may not feel any stronger or any less lost, but the Holy Spirit keeps our hearts and lives connected to the Father. Nothing can separate us from him, not even our uncertainty about his concern or help. He loves us unconditionally and without reservation.

We will constantly face occasions when we, like Jesus on the cross, cry out. We ask why God has forsaken us. We feel like we have been abandoned. The truth is that he never deserts us. Despite what our emotions tell us, God is ever-present and unchanging. He told us so himself. What we have to do is to trust his word more than our unreliable thoughts and feelings. Relying on him means having greater faith in what we know as opposed to what we want to think.

Thy will or my will? (Saturday, August 23)

Often we settle for less than what God has planned because we give up; we can quickly become impatient and accept what we are able to have right now rather than what will come tomorrow or next week. We find it hard to wait for the promises that God has for us, but easy to accept what we desire.

A case in point is looking forward to a vacation. We may make our plans months, sometimes even years, in advance. Each day we gain more hope because we are getting close to realizing our vision. Waiting for God to work in our lives is quite another story. We expect him to change situations and events overnight. If he does not, we grow discouraged. We lose hope. We think God has forgotten us and so we start to take matters into our own hands. We give up a divine plan for a worldly one.

As human beings, we frequently forsake the perfect for the imperfect, much like Adam and Eve who gave up a future in paradise for what they wanted at the moment – exchanging all of eternity for a simple, small apple.

God can help us from making the same mistake, if we take a moment to stop and turn to him. He will give us his patience and his persistence for what is best. Left to our own devices, we will surely fall and surrender to our own will.

Reading our life (Friday, August 22)

Each day we turn a new page. What happened yesterday is over and finished. As much as we might like to modify what we did or said, we cannot go back and make any changes. But we do have a chance to change today. God has given us this new day, fresh with opportunities to serve him better. This page of our lives is waiting to be written.

To be sure, this day will bring many obstacles as well as opportunities. We may encounter criticism from others, judgment by a co-worker or anger from a stranger. There may be drivers who cut us off, people who ignore us and situations that anger us. We also may be tempted to get into an argument or get even with someone. We might even face pain or sickness.

Today is all before us. We have the opportunity to record how it will go. Though we cannot alter what happens to us, we can indeed change how we react. We can choose compassion, forgiveness, love and kindness rather than resentment, indifference and bitterness. One way is the right way – to write our lives today – and the other is the wrong way.

In the end, what we do depends on how we want this day of our life to read. Either it will be a page that brings honor to God as creator or to us as human beings. We have the power and the will to decide exactly what is written. 

Faith to see (Thursday, August 21)

Human understanding of God is limited because of finite vision and knowledge.  We find it hard (at times, impossible) to accept what we cannot see.  But God says that faith is the substance of things unseen – the ability to perceive what lies ahead.

Nothing but faith can take us beyond ourselves.  We cannot believe or think something into being.  Nor can we wish or will our circumstances to change.  Faith, however, has the power to transform our lives because we know God can do all.  Trusting him allows us to see a future that is much different, far greater, than the one we can envision with our own small intellect.  

Through God we can visualize a pure and perfect plan for us.  Despite what we are enduring at the moment, perhaps with no way out, we can set our sights on God and see well beyond tomorrow.  He has already promised to work everything together for good.  We can count on his goodness as long as we have the faith to believe him.  If we have faith, then we can see and feel what only he can reveal.

The answer (Wednesday, August 20)

There are many needs in the world today. We can either be encouraged or discouraged by all that must be done around us. Our neighbors across the street need to sell their house. Our daughter-in-law needs mental and spiritual healing. A woman in our church needs financial help. Our son needs a new job. The list goes on and on. And these are just the needs nearest to us. What about those in other communities and countries who need help as well?

As one person, I cannot help everyone. In fact, I am quite powerless in most situations, even those closest to me. I have limited resources. One thing I can do, though, is to turn to God to meet every need. He is not limited by time, money, power or ability. He can accomplish the impossible, heal the incurable and help the hopeless. I must make sure that I spend time each day praying for God to bring about change.

In him, we can have hope – the trust and faith that he will, indeed, do what is needed in each situation. He will meet every need and he will do it according to a divine plan that is perfect. Part of his plan is that we recognize what must be changed and to ask him to intervene. Our petitions and prayers do make a difference. One single prayer can do more than we know because we are asking for God’s infinite and inexhaustible help.

He can do what we cannot. He will hear our pleas and he will answer us. What we must do is to ask. God will take care of the rest. 

He makes the difference (Tuesday, August 19)

Great work for the Lord is seldom seen or even appreciated by the world. But God knows and he remembers. He is keenly conscious of every action that is done and every word that is spoken in his name. Nothing escapes his eye and nothing eludes his awareness. He is pleased whenever we seek to please him.

At times, I fall far short because I am too preoccupied with serving myself. I find that I have a tendency to bring recognition to what I can do rather than what God can do. Like the apostle Peter, I am often overzealous and impatient. I jump out of the boat and try to walk on water – for my sake. Or I attack someone in the name of Jesus. On occasion, I have even denied Jesus out of fear and apprehension of what others might say.

But similar to Peter, I also am learning how to ignore the obstacles that separate me from my Lord. One by one, I am casting off the burdens that weigh me down and keep me earth-bound. I am realizing what it means to be heaven-bound. I have a higher calling than the little one set by the world. I am called to serve a king who is eternal and over all.

Nothing goes unnoticed by God. Each small task is large in the kingdom, no matter how insignificant it might appear to others. We are like the boy with five loaves and two fish. God blesses and uses us to care for the multitudes. The first step comes in giving him what little we have in order for him, not us, to make a big difference in the world.