Affirm Truth

AffirmTruth.org is a Christian, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational ministry, based out of Chennai, India.

Tag: Why Jesus

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord

Posted by on in DevotionalLeave a comment

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

To begin with, I am no fan of the above situation. I wish the fig tree would bud, the vines would be full of grapes, and everything would be merry.

But think about it: How can we ever know if we are good at something unless it’s put to the test? How can I ever know I have true joy in the Lord unless I face a situation where I don’t have people or things around to make me happy?

God does not test us to destroy us but to lift us up and lead us toward His plans and purposes.


God surely takes us through tough situations in life. People come and people go. We gain some, we lose some. And often, we find ourselves questioning God: Why does this need to happen in my life? God could have made everything perfect, right?

But that’s exactly how we learn to live by faith in an invisible God. The Scripture tells us that what is visible is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. God is with us, and we must learn to live by that truth.


We need to learn to base our happiness and joy in the Lord and not on the people and things that He has blessed us with. For everything will change but God will not. Know this: He is still with us- in the prison, the pit, the lion’s den, and even before the Red Sea. Through it all, we see a loving Father who protects and provides for His children who trust in Him.

Psalms 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

It is truly His hand that sustains us, because if it weren’t for Him, I for one wouldn’t be here telling you this and surely a million others would second me. God strengthens us beyond our weaknesses into the masterpiece He has always planned for us to be.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

He is the Alpha and the Omega. We may not know what will happen even a minute from now, but God already knows the ending of our story. So, trust in Him.

Remember this: even when you can’t see anything with your eyes or hold onto anyone with your hands, by faith know for sure that God is still near you through it all. He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Nehemiah 8:10 Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

We were all once without hope, but when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He gave us His joy and peace. This cannot be taken away by the world, unless we willingly let it go.

Hold fast to the joy of the Lord. It was purchased at a great cost-the precious blood of Christ. Jesus died for our sins and rose again so that we could be redeemed from the bondage of sin and hopelessness and receive an eternal hope. Let this be the reason that we rejoice every day.

Let’s pray,

Our loving heavenly Father, we thank You for You are with us through every season of our lives. We thank You for Jesus who lives forever and intercedes on our behalf. Thank You for the joy that we have gained through Jesus and His finished work on the cross. May we always be assured of this truth and live by faith in You and not be blinded by the tests and troubles of life, rather come out of it stronger and always find joy in You. Be with us and guide us. In Jesus matchless name we pray, Amen.

A New Beginning

Posted by on in DevotionalLeave a comment

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come

2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB

Happy New Year beloved reader. I wish good health and prosperity to you and family!!

Wow its already 2023 and another year has passed. And in the midst of so much chaos around the world. We are finding ways to live and move on with our lives. But for all of us a new year brings new hope and desire for something bigger and better than last year.

Some of us try to retrospect what we do right and wrong in the previous year. Areas we improved or need to improve. Successes and failures. And after all that we do try to come up with new year resolutions which sometimes or always gets resolves to an end by themselves. If you understand what I mean 🙂

So, in light of that, I want to put forth that this devotional is not going to be encouraging to start coming up with new year resolutions neither it’s going to be asking us to retrospect the last year. But I do want you to ask this question?

Would believing in Jesus still make a difference in 2023?

With so much uncertainty around every area of our lives, be it family, job, finances, relationships etc. Where does Jesus stand or makes sense? What can he do? Is it even logical to believe in Jesus today? We do trust our leaders of our respective countries to make a difference. Democratic or Republic or Kingdom. Yet some problems are bigger than the human race. Think about all the natural disasters, pandemic, moral wrong doings, terrorism, deaths, forgery and wars we had or are going through. Yet some of them are getting hard to be resolved by all of our strengths combined. Don’t you think we all are working to resolve these issues for so many years now? Inventions, regulations, unions, governments, rules, militaries, weapons and still the issues are not getting resolved.

Therefore, that brings us to the question What is the real problem? The bible says the below,

For out of the heart come evil... Mathew 15:19 NIV

If you can just ponder for some time on the origin of all the issues, we face today. It comes from the evil of our hearts. We talk so much about failures of governments, humanity, morals, military and leaders. But we fail to realize that the issues we face today are not born out of these institutions we humans created for service of mankind. But mankind itself created the issues.

Let’s see an example, why do people steal? Is it because they want to, or the lack of something. It’s hard to distinguish, isn’t it? Because it’s not always the lack. It may be other moral motives, like lust, power, greed, selfishness, laziness etc. or it could be just sheer want for something to live. But the origin of all this is the thought that originated from an idea that came to the mind of someone. And when they gave into the idea, the body performed it. We could apply this to almost every issue we face.

We human race have evolved over the years and have resolved many issues. But let’s admit we cannot change a human heart. We don’t have a cure. Thats where Jesus comes in.

Now you may ask, how can a person or spiritual entity bring a change in a human heart? How can that be possible? I love the below bible verse which says 

.... Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart. - 1 Samuel 16:7 GWT

How can God look into our heart? It’s pretty simple. He is the one who created us. Just like we can look deep within something we created. We know ins and out of our own inventions. God can see through what he invented. We are his priceless creations, whom he loves no, matter who we are. “For God shows no partiality” – Romans 2:11.

You know what, I can give a thousand reasons to believe Jesus. But it just takes just 1 step to know for yourself. It’s like you can hear a thousand reasons from others on how good a dish is but you can’t tell for yourself if its good until you taste it yourself. Can you take that 1 step? Like we try and see so many things in our lives before taking a decision. Can you try Jesus? Give him just 1 chance look into your heart. He can cure as he himself said … I am the LORD, who heals you. – Exodus 15:26. He is the best doctor we have for all of our issues. And he is the best bet for humanity. The only obstacle to us having to know Jesus is first to admit we need a cure and second how to know him. Thankfully for us there is open an invitation for everyone. Jesus said,

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. - Revelation 3:20

This new year, you may want to try out many things. But try out Jesus too. You will never regret. I am a testimony. Life has never been the same after I accepted Jesus. Many can testify with me. We may miss many things in our lives. Let’s try our best to not miss and chance to experience Jesus.

Once you make a decision just say this prayer

Dear Lord, I admit that I am a sinner. I have done many things that don’t please you. I have lived my life for myself only. I am sorry, and I repent. I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you died on the cross for me, to save me. Come into my life and change me.

If you have said the above prayer. Congratulations. The next step for you is to know God and his word. Grab a bible and read any Gospels to start with. You will get to know about Jesus more. If you need a bible. You can contact us and we will send it to you for free. Try to join a local church and enjoy a fellowship of co-believers just like you. If you wish, reach out to us for help, we will be happy to help and guide you to the next steps.

If you are a believer of Christ, please do share this devotional to someone who may need it, prayerfully. And if you feel there have some areas in your life which needs Jesus to help you rectify. It’s not wrong to just ask Jesus to come into your life again. It’s never too late.

Happy New year 2023 once again!!