You cant measure it.

Theres a wonderful hymn, about the love of God, here are some of the words of this hymn, [The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can tell, It goes beyond the high-est star ,And reaches to the lowest Hell. Could we with ink the ocean fill,and were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above. Would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the the scroll contain the whole,Tho stretched from sky to sky].[ Part of those words were written by a person who was considered insane, the wonder of it all is that , we are loved ,just turn your thoughts to Jesus and think on Calvary, thats how much God loves you.

Favourite Books

One of my favourite books in the Bible is Philippians, I especially like chapter 4, it deals with worry, right thinking, knowing the peace of God, being content, strength to do, partnership , giving, and one of my favourite verses is v19 [av] But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus . I would encourage you read this lovely book and I am sure you will be blessed, as I have been.

The lost

Convince a man against his will and he remains of that opionion still, so one once said. Our Saviour found this to be true , no matter what He said ,or did, people remained unchanged.Many are lost because they refuse to listen, refuse to see, and unless they are prepared to listen, and see , there is no hope. Some of the sad/dest words in the bible are in Matthew 23v37, were Jesus describes Gods pleading to Jerusalem, all to no avail, [ but you wouldnt let Me]. Acts 16v31 exhorts us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ,and we will be saved, the question is are you listening?,so much depends on this, and are you willing to obey?.

One door closes

I went to my usual barbers recently, it was closed, so I went to another,the person who cut my hair was a young Muslim lad, as he cut my hair I thought it would be hard to have a conversation with him, but to my surprise he started a talk ,that lead me to witness to him about Christ. God does shut doors but He also opens other ones. Remember shut doors are just as much Gods leading, as open doors are.

Pray.Pray. Pray.

In praying we are saying to God that we are depending on Him,the hymn writer wrote, I need you every hour, most gracious Lord. and the fact of the matter is we do. so , pray ,pray , pray. Dont heed your decietful heart , dont listen to the enemy of your soul , your God hears and answers prayer, so again I say ,pray, pray, pray.

Forgetting

Being forgetful is seen as a weakness , but it is the apostle Paul, who exhorts us to ,forget those things which are behind,[Philippians 3v13,[a.v], it is so easy to dwell on the past,so much so that we become prisoners of the past, there are so many of us who are trapped in the past, past failures, successes,hurts,, the way for the christian ,is always forward,our Saviour said we are not to look back,[Luke 9v62] its an unworthy occupation looking back.

Image

What is so special about mankind ?are we just another type of animal?, here is what Gods word says, and God said , Let us make man,in our image,[Gen 1v26], every human being has the stamp of God upon them. Sin has left its mark, but it has not destroyed the image of God, on our being.In Christ that image is being restored, to what it should be. As you look at others , remember no matter how bad, or unlovely, that person may appear,they have been made in the image of God. Love them , pray for them, that they know Christ as there Saviour, for its only in Christ, will that image be fully restored.

Exhortations

When writing his epistles, Paul deals with the theology, and then challenges with exhortations, you see theology is of no use to us, if it does not affect our lives. If we our not more holy, loving,if we are better people for what we believe, then whats the point of our theology, God is not looking for spiritual eggheads. Here are but two of the many exhortations we are challenged with from Ephesians, 5v2 ,Live a life filled with love . v8, Live as people of light.

Concerns

Us, of the older generation remember that old hymn , What a friend we have in Jesus ...what a priveleage to carry everything to God in prayer, this may be an old hymn , but the truth of those words are so important, I visited two old friends last night, they are Christians ,their sons marriage is heading for divorce, I really felt for the whole situation, concerned. What can one do ? the answer, show a loving concern, and take it to the one who fully understands and cares, for it is true in the words of the hymn, no one understands like Jesus.

Dont give up

[ just want to say having problems with my blogg ,it has missed out a day, and is a day behind] There are times when we struggle, of course this is often ,in our hearts, in our minds , we grow weary in the struggle of it all, whatever that all may be, dont give up, whither its in the work of God, with your children, your marriage,Theres an old hymn which says ,God has not promised skies always blue, but He has promised Grace for today, so dont give up,look unto Jesus, your helper, your friend, your Saviour.

Outsider

Ephesians 2 is a chapter written with outsiders in mind, it is dealing with our position before we came to Jesus, our position is summed up in verse12 , without God and without hope, we were trully outsiders.The chapter starts , once you were,in other words a change has taken place in their position ,verse 13, tells us something wonderful has happened,once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him[God] through the blood of Christ, we are no longer outsiders verse 19,no longer strangers and foreigners,we are members of Gods family.

Cost

The cost of so many things affect us, many will be worrying about interests rates ,it continues to concern me the price of houses, how are young people going to afford the price of a home?.Then we hear continually of the cost to the environment caused by many things,I read this today in Ephesians 1v8 He[God] purchased our freedom with the blood of His son, what a cost God had to pay,to save and to deliver us , why ? simple because He loved us.

Listening

Jesus would say he that has ears to hear , let him hear what the Spirit is saying, you see there is a difference between hearing, and listening. God desires us to hear, I think those words in 1Kings 19v12 .[ a still small voice] are so important for you and I. So often people listen to the preacher instead of hearing what God is saying through the preacher.

Privllege

When you are a Christian you are very privlleged, because you have someone with you, that others dont have, you have Jesus. We have an advantage over those who are not Christians, in every situation, difficulty, you have Jesus,think what that means for you today, in all that this day may throw at you, you have Jesus.

Appearance

I must confess im very conscious how I look, I am always buying clothes, I thing about what I should wear, each day, yet I realize, this is not whats important, especially in Gods sight, Im sure we need to have balance in all things,to not judge others for their dress sense, or lack of it, its a matter of choice. we should accept everyone, not on the bases of superficialty,but as God accepts us , with the eyes of love.

Death

Peter Pan ,[To die would be an awful big adventure], not so long ago I passed the cemetery were my first wife is buried,I shook my fists at death, why? because death is an enemy, we were not made to die.Death has come in through sin , so death reings, but one day all will be changed, John 11v25-26 Jesus said I am the resurrection , and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die

Favourite

We all have our favourite things ,in music ,T.V, programes ,people, etc, but sometimes we can carry this into our relationship with God, surely He has his favourites, there was a lady in my church , who use to think this. Let me say what Gods word has to say about this , Galations 2v6. [God has no favourites] He loves you just as much as he loves me,for we are all his favourites

Unsettled

In Deuternomy 32v11ff , we read of the eagle stirring up its nest, the context is that of God leading , protecting and providing ,is He stirring you up? are you feeling unsettled? are you feeling challenged?, trust your Lord ,and go forward,the God of ancient Israel is still the same , He will protect and provide for you, and most important He will be with you.

Gratitude

I must confess I get annoyed when you do something for someone and they dont say thanks, mybe there is some person you should say thanks to, today. God likes us to say thanks,for all He has done for us [Philippians4v6] and especially for JESUS, 2 Corinthians 9v15 , reads [ Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words] so, give thanks.

Pretending

Lets start with a question, was Judas just pretending to be a disciple ? theres an old song which goes , oh yes im the great pretender, well listen, you can fool some of the people some of the time , but none of us can fool God.Consider Psalm 139, God knows everything about us , so lets stop pretending

Reputation

Proverbs 22v1 Choose a good reputation over great riches, being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold, it is important how we live,I remember my then manager asking me to deliver a file to a certain place, it was important, she said , she knew that I was dependable. Reputation it is important, honesty, faithfulness, caring, etc, so today , make a decision, choose to have a good reputation.

Responsible

Just returned from holiday, enjoyed it ,yet it did not just happen, it took planning, let me say I believe in the sovereignty of God , but I also believe in mans responsiblity. Theres an old song, with the following words , oh we will never get to heaven in a rocking chair , for the Lord wont let any lazy bones there .The great sovereign God asks the question ,Whom shall I send ? [Isaiah 6v8], the prophet answers , here am I, send me, consider the words of an old hymn, [Theres a work for Jesus ,ready at your hand, Tis a task the Master, just for you has planned ] , now let us be responsible.