Endure [2 Timothy 2 v1 ]

Somethings dont go away, so often we expect healing or a miracle, and it does not happen, instead we are called to endure. If we read the scriptures we discover many of Gods people had to endure, read Hebrews 11v 35-38, read the life of the apostle Paul ,he had to endure many things. We need to have a balanced view of the Christian life sometimes there are no quick fixes, but there is Grace, the grace of God, I often listen to ,Desert Island discs, on radio four, if I was on the program , my first choice would be , Amazing Grace, because as I look back on a life time, following Christ, I am so thankful for the amzing grace of God, that has enabled me to endure .[God and Father who saved us by grace through faith in Jesus, continue to pour out your amazing grace into our lives, that we may endure , what ever path in life you have chosen for us, we ask this in Jesus wonderful name , Amen. ]

The weather.[ Lamentations 3 v 22-23 ]

One thing one can say about the weather in this country , you get variety,sunshine one day ,rain the next, whither you like it or not, thats the way it is. On holiday I met a chap called Harvey, an Australian, who likes our weather, well I suppose it is always something to talk about. It is thought that the weather affects us, especially those who suffer from mental illness, those dull and dreary days gets them down. Unlike the weather in its changeableness , God does not change , His love for you and me remains constant, his mercy does not change, His care for His children will not change, so never mind the weather rejoice in the Lord today. [ Dear God and Father we thank you , for your unchangeableness, we thank you in the name of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Amen.]

Bless me [ Proverbs 10 v22]

There is something in humanity that wants to be blest, when people sneeze they say bless me, people use the term bless me, are not usually thinking about God blessing them. As a Christian I want God to bless me , why ?, because with His blessing upon my life , I know all will be well, even when things go wrong, even when things are difficult.Many years ago a dear friend quoted a verse from a poem ,which goes like this, [ Ill that He blesses is our good , and unblest good is ill, and all is right that seems most wrong , if it be His sweet will. ]. My friend who quoted those words, died of cancer, leaving a husband, and two young children. By faith I believe that if I am blest of God then all is well, and all will be well. [Father in heaven, we thank you for your blessing upon our lives, that causes all things to work together for our good , even the difficult things, even the bad things,we thank you in Jesus name, Amen. ]

Trust and obey.[Romans 12 v1 - 2]

There is an old hymn with the following words, Trust and obey for there is no other way , to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. This relates to our daily walk with Jesus, so often we think it is to do with the major decisions in our lives, and of course that comes into it, but it is much more than this, it is to do with all our lives. As we face this day ,will we put that trusting and obeying into practice, in our relationships,in our activities, in the day by day things, not just the major things, but also the minor things ?.[Father help us to involve you in all our lives, to surrender this day into your hands ,to trust and obey you in everything, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen .]

Ordianariness. [1 Corinthians 10 v31 ]

There are many super heroes , exciting things, but on the whole life is made up of the ordinary, this was one of my observations while on holiday. I observed people with their families at the seaside, parents building sandcastles with their children, children riding donkeys, people eating candy floss and ice cream [not at the same time ], people playing football, others flying kites. Ordinary people doing ordinary things, lets be honest most of life is made up of ordinary people doing ordinary things. Abe Lincolm said God must have loved ordinary folk, for He made so many of them, let us never forget no matter how ordinary we may be we are special in Gods sight, and let us realise that we can bring God into the ordinary activities and so make them sacred activities. [ Father most of us are ordinary people,we thank you that you love us,and we ask that you will help us , to glorify our Savior even in the ordiananiness of life, Amen .]

Holiday

This is just to let you know that I will be on holiday for a week I will be back Sunday week. I just want to encourage you all , to keep praying ,keep trusting, and keep obeying.

No easy answers. [1 Corinthians 13 v 12 ]

One of my favourite brodcasters Alistair Cooke, said when he heard Duke Ellington the great jazz entertainer had died,I dont have to believe it , if I want to. I can appreciate what he said for there are somethings to painful to accept. Coming to terms with painful experiences,abuse, loss, failure, betrayal, and so on, whats the answer?, is there an answer?.Did Job get an answer to all his loss? it does not appear he did, but somehow he appears to have coped, I dont have any quick fix answers, I read these words in Romans 15v 4, that the scriptures give us hope and encouragement, the scriptures tells us that God loves us, that He is with us in ever trial, and in the words of the old hymn, to sanctify to us our deepest distress, yes there are no easy answers, but there are answers. [Father God we wish somethings did not happen, but they do, please help us to face whatever happens in our lives, with courage and trust , in Jesus name we ask this, Amen .]

God is in control [ Revelation 19 v 6. a.v ]

All is not well in the world , there are many problems in the world, mybe there are problems in your life, one could so easily be driven to despair. The word of God reminds us, and we most certaintly do need to be reminded, that God is on the throne, and that He is in control. That does not ignor all the wrong things that are happening, nor does it mean we will not have problems and difficulties to face. What it means is hope, that inspite of all that is going on, somehow we believe God is in control, and all will be well, I will leave you my life verse, Romans 8 v28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. [ Father God sometimes we despair, things appear to be out of control, help us to trust in the truth that you are in control, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. ]

Caught out [ Matthew 5 v38 -42 ]

I had an experience yesterday, when I found myself in a conflict situation, I was caught out, it was unexpected. Inspite of the fact we are warned to be on our guard we do get caught out, the question I ask is this, did I handle it right, I hope so.What I have done is commit it to God , and am seeking to leave it with Him, although I am finding it hard. The challenge of our Lords teaching in Matthew 5 v39,is to be taken seriously , But I say unto you, That you resist not evil, but whososver shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Oswald Chambers , wrote,Naturally, if a man does hit back , it is because he is a coward, but spiritually if a man does not hit back, it is a manifestation of the Son of man in him. This is the challenge for all of us , even when we are caught out. [ Dear Lord Jesus help us in every situation to reflect You, Amen ]

Regrets [ 1Timothy 1 v 15- 17 ]

Sometimes your mind flicks back ,and you remember things you wish you had not done, and the memory of such things causes one real pain. Memories of childhood . I remember as I went to school with a mate we picked on someone, we roughed him up, I was a terrible one for getting into fights, and picking on people , I remember that boy standing outside the door of my home with his mother, the memory still causes me pain, regrets. Well what can we do ? one thing for certain we cant change the past, but I thank God ,He has changed me, and is changing me, I dread to think what I would be like if Christ had not saved me, I dont exaggerate ,the life without Christ is fraught with danger. [Father thank You from the depths of our hearts for saving us from so much that could have destroyed us and others, thank You for Jesus, Amen ]

Values . [John 3 v16 ]

At our church yesterday we sang a hymn by a Lucy Bennett, that touched my heart, in the first verse, it dealt with two things, [ 1 ] What it cost our Saviour to redeem us. [2] A request to be taught the value of a soul. Those two things bring with them a tremendous challenge , as to what God places value on, and what we should place value on. The value of a soul is something that we need to appreciate, because God values a soul so much that he gave His Son Jesus to die on Calvary. We need to have God values in life, when we look at people , to see them as He sees them, to love them as He loves them. [Dear God forgive us for our wrong values,and help us to value what you value , in Jesus name we ask this, Amen. ]

Believing . [ Hebrews 11v 6 ]

In the movie , Journey to the center of the earth, one of the main characters, says about two people, they believed something that everyone said was impossible. The Bible is full of such people, people who believed the impossible, Noah, Abraham, the list goes on. Their belief of course was not based on their imagination, but on God and what He said, and they acted on that belief, and God honoured their faith . Our Saviour said ,blessed are those who believe without seeing me,[John 20v29 ], have you believed?.To become a Christian ,we have put our faith in Jesus ,we may have doubts, we may have questions, but the challenge that we are faced with is to believe on Jesus, the words of an old hymn comes to mind , only believe. [Dear God we come to you in faith, for without faith it is impossible to please You , we ask for your grace, that we may exercise faith be in Jesus to be our Saviour, and then for faith to follow Him, Amen. ]

That special love.[ Galations 2 v20 ]

The apostles Paul is one of my heroes he suffered so much for Christ ,for him to live was Christ, he loved Jesus greatly, I suppose this is what enabled him to endure all the things he did, read 2 Corinthians 11 to see some of the things he suffered, Paul had experienced the love of Christ in a most dramatic way, he had been an enemy of Christ and His church, when he was stopped in his tracks ,shown mercy, and forgivness, he could never forget this, he had experienced such love. Mybe you are struggling in your walk with Christ at this time, take a moment to refect on His love for you, ask God to give you a fresh vision of Calvary. [Dear God ,thank you for the love shown unto us in Jesus your dear Son, grant unto us by the Holy Spirit, a fresh annointing of that love, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen .]

Confused [3 John v 1-4 ]

In 1 Corinthians 14v33. we are told that God is not the author of confusion, I am reading a book at this time, and though there are things in it that are interesting and provocative, it is also has a degree of confusion about it. I discussed one aspect of the book with a friend of mine, a person who is very qualified on the subject, and it would seem that the author of the book, has chosen to ignor the grave errors on the subject he has written about, or he is ignorant of the facts. I am tempted to tell you the name of the book, but I wont, I want rather to stress the importance of discernment, judge all things by the scriptures, reject all things that are not according to the scriptures, whole fast to the truth of the scriptures. [ Father we thank you for your word , your word that is true , help us to not stray from your truth , help us not to be fooled , by personalities , by sermons, by books, or whatever, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. ]

He was there all the time. [ Hebrews 11. ]

In Genesis 28 v16 , we have Jacob saying, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasnt even aware of it, we are creatures of the senses, sight ,hearing, touching,smelling. I partially remember the words of a poem , that said , how blest were those who realised that God was there when He was most invisible. Our walk with God is one of faith , I would encourage you to read Hebrews 11, it is a wonderful chapter, about people who had faith in the invisible God. God is invisible, yet as the poet wrote,He is closer than breathing , and nearer than hands and feet, by faith we believe this. Today we may not be aware that God is there, but he is, looking after us, caring for us, protecting us, giving us the strength to cope , even though we cannot see Him , He is there all the time. [Father God ,help us to walk aright , more by faith less by sight, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen. ]

Do what you can. [ 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 29 ]

Before my voice began to manifest the ravages of time , I used to sing regularly, I still sing but only occasionally, I had a strong voice. Some people were blessed by my singing and occaionally, a person would say I wish I could sing like you, [ I found it strange if a woman said this...Joke ] I understand what they meant. If only they knew how difficult I found singing , I often found it stressful at times, as I was limited musically, and needed always to read the words as I sang, I never could trust my memory, I can assure you my singing was done in much weakness. The thing is , I did the best I could with what I had, and trusted God to help me, and to bless. There was a young boy, and all he had was his lunch, yet he gave it to Jesus, and it was used to bless five thousand plus, he gave what he had ,it wasnt a lot, but Jesus accepted it. Let us do what we can , give what we can, be it ever so little, our Saviour will accept it, and make it a blessing.[ Dear Lord Jesus, take our weakness, our limitations, we offer them to You, and bless them for Your glory, Amen. ]

Shine [ Matthew 5 v 14-16 ]

Jesus us bids us shine with a clear pure light , like a little candle burning in the night, in this world of darkness ,so we must shine, you in your small corner,and I in mine, In Matthew 5 v14, our Saviour says,You are the light of the world. This is the challenge for us today , to shine, and in v16, He tells us how we can shine, let your good deeds shine out, in other words when we are helping someone we are shining,how important do you see good works in your life ?, now we are not saved by our good works, [Ephesians 2 v 8-9 ], but the evidence that we are saved is by doing good.[ James 2v 18-19 ], in Hebrews 10 v 24, we read,Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. So today let us shine, not that we may be praised but that our loving heavenly Father may be glorified. [Father help us to shine ,as our Saviour commanded us to do, in His name we ask this, Amen. ]

Surprise. [John 11 v 40. ]

As one reads the Bible, we see how God loves to surprise people,think of the people Jesus surprised , the man blind from birth [ John 9 ] , it was just another day, when suddenly all was changed, he recieved his sight. Or the family at Bethany [John 11 ]were all hope had gone , Lazarus had died, but then Jesus came, all was changed, in a moment, what a surprise. There are many more examples in the Bible of God surprising people, mybe He will surprise you today, in a way that will amaze you, for He is the God of surprises. [Father God help us to trust you in every situation, and help us to believe that You are the God of surprises , one who can transform any situation in a moment, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen. ]

Watch them words. [James 3 v 1 12 ]

There is wisdom in silence, and so many of us need that wisdom, in the book of Proverbs [18v 27-28 ]we read, A truly wise person uses few words....... Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent, with their mouths shut , they seem intelligent. My study Bible says regards this about being silent. [1 ] It allows you the opportunity to listen and learn. This is so important so often we do not take time to listen ,being a good listenering is very important.[2] Make sure you pause to think and to listen so that when you do speak you will have something important to say. Again that is very important advice, we should not be quick to jump in, having listened mybe we need to sleep on it, pray about it, and then give the advice thats needed.Words are so easily spoken, but the wise thing to do is think before you speak, so watch them words. [Father in the name of your Son , Jesus, grant unto us wisdom in all our ways, and especially with our words . Amen .]

Moods [ James 5 v17-18 ]

Sometimes it is a struggle to pray , and sometimes we struggle when we pray, I am sure this applies to everyone, even to the most godly of people. Let us always remember prayer is not performing ,our Saviour made this very clear , read Matthew 6 v5, no, prayer should be, the real you ,meeting with your loving heavenly Father. When we meet with God there is nothing hid from Him, He sees and knows everything about us, He knows what makes us tick, knows all about our moods. So whatever our mood, let us pray to our loving heavenly Father, in all our need, and in our moods, there is a blessing in perservering. Pray on and pray through .[ Loving heavenly Father , we lift up to you our weaknesses, are inperfections, and in the name of Jesus accept the prayers we offer, Amen .]

Relationships. [2 Corinthians 6 v14 -18.]

Let us consider the but in Jehoshaphats life, he made an alliance with king Ahab, he did this by having his son marry Ahabs daughter,Ahab was king of Israel a weak and wicked king, who was ruled by his pagan wife Jezebel. This same son eventually became king and acted very wickedly to such a degree that we read about his death , that no one was sorry when he died ,[2 Chronicles 21v20]. Jehoshaphats action had other consequences, it nearly caused his death, yet inspite of this he never learned his lesson, for he again made an alliance with another wicked king [2 Chronicles 20v35],and suffered for that, the sad fact is, he never seemed to learn from his mistakes. Let us learn an important lesson from all this, and it is this, there is a separateness in the Christian life that is healthy, and wise, and if we ignor it we will suffer.[ Father help us to be wise as regards our relationships, for wrong relationships can have an affect on us, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. ]

Depending upon God. [ 2 Chronicles 20 ]

I have just finished reading about Jehoshaphat, a king of Judah, he was a good king, but, there is always a but it seems. The good things about him, he did seek to follow God, and encourage his subjects to do this also. I love his prayer in 2 Chronicles 20, he ends it with the following words,[ v20 ],[ his people are faced with a vast army, certain defeat looks on the cards ], We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help. What a wonderful prayer, one of utter dependance on God, it is the safest attitude to have, and I believe one, God will honour. [ Father we bring all our unsolvable problems to You, and ask that You will help us, in Jesus, Amen ]

Following Jesus.[ John 21v 15-22 ]

Jesus said follow me , are we doing this ?, it seems such a simple thing , and in many ways it is, but it is also a challenge. Becoming a Christian involves a relationship with Jesus, everything is linked with that. This relationship is one of love, and a loving obedience, Jesus appeal ,is to the heart, he asked Peter, do you love Me?, I wonder why He asked him three times, well often God speaks to us many times ,in the hope that we will response. Jesus is very persistent, and patient with us, He needs to be,for so often we are very slow in the uptake, Jesus will not give up on us till He gets a response, it is important it is the right response. [Dear Lord Jesus , we do love You,and inspite of our failings , and faults, we know you love us, keep us in your love today, Amen .]

Guilt [Romans 8 v 1 ]

I remember years ago a man reproaching me for having a record collection, the same person was good at loading others with guilt, yet he was a backslider,and in comparison to me he was very well of. We live in a needy world so many crying out for help, regularly I recieve literature from charities , the needs are endless, we can so easy be filled with guilt, let me say this, dont. It is important to see the importance of giving regularly, yes sacrificial at times , but dont , I emphasize , dont be driven by guilt, be led by the Spirit. I can assure you being lead by the Spirit will bring challenges, and yes sacrifice , so refuse to be driven by guilt today. [Father You are the giving God , all we have comes from you, we thank you, and we pray that you help us to be generous, to be lead in our giving not by guilt but by your Spirit, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen. ]