Suddenly the lights went out. [Luke 18 v 20- 37 ]

Last evening we had a short power cut,suddenly the lights went out, and we were sitting in the dark, we were not expecting this, but we were prepared as we had a good supply of candles. There is a story in the Bible of five people who were not prepared, we read about them in Matthew 25v 1-13 , they are known as the five foolish virgins,the point of the parable is, to be ready for when Jesus comes back again. Jesus is coming back again, there is much speculation as to the events leading up to His coming, only God knows when Jesus will return, to collect those who are His, and also to judge those who are not.The true believer must live in the light of Christs coming, the unbeliever has an opportunity now, to be saved, they must take it, or suffer the consequences, on that day, crying ,pleading will not avail, if they dont know Christ as their own and personal Saviour then, He will declare, I dont know you. [Father we thank You for sending Jesus the first time, we know that this is not the end of the story, He is coming back again, help all of us who know Him, to live in the light of His coming again, and grant that those many who dont Him will turn from their sins, and trust Him, so that they also will be ready on that day, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

What is going on? [ Matthew 11v28 ]

Im am sure we have asked the question, what is going on?, as we look at this world, the world wide credit crunch, the never ending conflict in Israel , and many other things. There is also personal problems we have to deal with, there the list is endless, the on going problems, the unexpected problems, and we find ourselves asking what is going on?. In the OT we have the prophet Habakkuk who asked the question , what is going on ,evil appeared to be abounding, the future looked very bleak, the prophet could not figure it out, so he struggled. As we come to the end of the book of Habakkuk , the prophet gives up his struggling, and falls into the arms of God. To all of us who are struggling, let us follow Habakkuks example, and fall into the arms of God, listen to the words of Jesus, /Come unto me, all of you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens,and I will give you rest, [Matthew 11v28 ] [ Dear Lord Jesus there are so many things we do not understand, so many things we struggle with, right now we would fall into your arms, those everlasting arms, Amen ]

The parties over [ Matthew 28 v 18-20 ]

How many days is it to Christmas? it seems a silly question,yet my wife has started to buy presents for next Christmas. There is a Christmas song which goes,/I wish it could be Christmas every day/, someone jockingly said it was written by Tescos.I know we are still in the season of Christmas but because of the pressure, it is with a sigh of relief when it is all over.and yet cutting through all the commercialization, the true meaning of Christmas, can leave with us a lasting blessing, and a challenge. The blessing , God is with us in the person of Christ, and we can have no greater blessing than this, it will not be Christmas everyday , but Christ will be with us every day. The challenge, to continue to be as generous, as we are at Christmas, in our giving, loving , sharing, and caring. [ Dear God we thank You for Christ, who is the reason for us celebrating Christmas, yet we rejoice that He is with us all the time, help us to manifest the reality of Christ ,in us, everyday, Amen ]

Thank You God for prayer. [ Luke 18 v 1- 14 ]

I heard a preacher on the God channel say,/ Thank God for prayer/, it may amaze us how many people pray. I agree with that preacher , we should thank God for prayer. It is such a blessing to pray, through prayer we recieve so much, calmness , guidance, needs met, both phyisical, mental,and so the list goes on, it is also a means to help others. Prayer involves many things, there are no experts, only one , Jesus, He is our example, He was continually praying. It is possible to have answers to our prayers,we must prove this ourselves, and we can.It is important that we dont compare ourselves with others, although we can learn from others. We do have a helper when we pray ,the Holy Spirit,[ Romans 8 v 26-27 ], so pray,in your weakness, pray inspite of your limatations, but pray ,pray,pray. [Dear God we thank You for prayer, help us to pray and help us to be guided by Your Spirit, we ask this in Jesus name ,Amen ]

Change [James 1 v22 - 25 ]

In the 19th century a Dr Arnold took over as principal of Rugby Public school, this is were the game of rugby originated, it was Dr Arnold who sought to bring change to this school. Public schools were noted for bullying,cruelity,and nurseries of of vice, so change was needed.[The story Tom Browns schooldays was written about Rugby school and Dr Arnold ]. Dr Arnold sought to introduce ,moral principals, gentlemanly conduct, and lastly intellectual ability.The message of Christianty is about change, we cannot be a Christian without change in our lives, the initial act of salvation, when we trust Christ involves change, from sinner to saint, but that is only the beginning.The coming days will bring challenges to all of us , to change, the sad fact is, many of us will resist change, many of us will listen to Gods word,but thats all we will do, no change will take place. [ Father in Heaven You sent Jesus Your Son ,to save us,and to change us, grant that we may not only be hearers of the word of God, help us not to be concerned about the faults in others,rather help us, to change, by Your grace, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen ]

Courage [ Joshua 1 v 9 ]

One of my favourite movies is the ,Wizard of Oz, and one of my favourite characters is the lion who lacked courage, there is an old hymn which reads,/ Courage brother to not stumble. Though thy path be dark as night, Theres a star to guide the humble, Trust in God and do the right/. This is Boxing day also known as Saint Stephens day, Stephen was the first Christian martyr , he was stoned to death , yet in his dying he showed great courage and even love to those who were killing him.[ we read about him in Acts 7] We may not have to face martydom, [ we may ] but I believe that we are all called to face life with a degree of courage,to say no in certain situations, to face each days challenges, with courage,the Christian life is not for cowards. [ Father grant us the grace to face life with courage each day, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen. ]

The cost of evil [ John 3 v16 ]

I found myself saying as I watched TV ,there is always a cost for evil, it may seem inappropriate saying such a thing on this Christmas day,yet at the very core of the Christmas message we have a child who was born to die on a cross. Sin costs and it would cost God everything, the death of His dear Son, we can only begin to imagine the depths of what God felt in giving Jesus, for our salvation. Yes there is a cost to evil , the evil of sin, consider the pain caused by sin,the pain God feel as He looks on His broken world, as he hears the cry of children neglected and abused,of the rape victims, of the violence of so many conflicts, yes there is a cost where ever evil raises its ugly head, but rising out of the ashes one solitary figure stands Jesus, and declares I will go and redeem and rescue poor fallen humanity, and He did just that ,on the Cross. [Dear God thank you for Jesus your Son who You give, that through Him we may escape the eternal consequences of our sin, Amen ]

Be very sure.[ 1 John 5 v13 ]

I have concerns for so many people, especially my loved ones, I want to see them in heaven,yesterday I spoke to an old aunt on the phone, a church goer all her life a believer in God,and I love her, but is she saved?.I asked her when she prayed that night, to simply ask the Lord to save her, she said she would, I hope so. I share this with you because I want you all to realise ,and I quote words from some thing I read recently,/You can go to heaven without health, without wealth, without fame, without culture, but you will never go to heaven without Christ/. There is an old hymn which goes, / Be very sure/, are you sure you are going to heaven?, if you are not ,well I will say to you, what I said to my dear old aunt, simply ask the Lord Jesus to save you right now. [Father we thank for Jesus who died to bring many to glory, we pray that many at this time will trust Him to be their Saviour, we ask this in His name and for His sake, Amen. ]

I was not expecting it [ Proverbs 27 v 1 ]

As one reads the bible , you notice how God breaks into lives, when they were not expecting it, people were just going about their business when God interrupts their plans.Think about the Christmas event , starting with Mary, being told she was going to have a child, she was not married, but she rose to the challenge. Think of the conversion of Saul, it was the last thing in the world he was thinking about, one moment hating Christians and Christ, the next moment he had become a Christian. Yesterday I was going about my business when suddenly I was faced with something, unexpected , that something was from God it was unexpected. I believe we should be ready for God , to act in unexpected ways, and what is most important for us, is the challenge to response in a right way. [ God of the unexpected, we long for You to act in our lives and in the lives of others, help us to responsed in a right way when You do, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

What can I give Him? [ 2 Corinthians 12 v 1-10 ]

This is the time for singing carols which I like, one of my favourite carols is, /In the bleak mid-winter/,I have been criticised for choosing it in our carol services, the reason being Christ was not born in the bleak mid-winter. I am sure the writer of that carol knew this ,mybe she was seeking to make it more real to us in England. It raises the challenge for all of us to convey the Christian message to non-Christians in a way that they can identify with. It is the last verse of this carol that strikes a cord with me, it reads,/What can I give Him,poor as I am?.Last evening I took a carol service, they are a small church, no one can play a musical instrument, I was asked could I play my guitar, I did, in much weakness,and God helped. As I drove home the words of that carol came to mind,/What can I give Him ?/, and I found myself saying, I will give Him my weakness, thats what I will do, I will give Him my weakness.[ Father in Heaven You tell us that Your power works best in weakness, and so we yield up to You all our weaknesses , in Jesus name we ask this, Amen.]

Evidence[ 1 Thessalonians 1 ]

In a national newspaper I read these words,/ Yes , Scientists believe in God/, I found it interesting and helpful ,particularly what a professor Burgess said,/The most moving evidence for Christianity I have seen is when a person with a broken life puts their trust in the Lord Jesus and finds healing, peace and purpose/. During the week I was asked by someone why I appeared to be calm, what was my secret, I simply replied ,if there was any calm in my life it was because of the Lord/. When Christ saves us He brings a change into our lives,He does trully bring healing, peace and purpose,and by His grace He gradually by different means, His word, prayer, a yielding up of our will ,to His will, make us better people. [Father we confess that we are far from what we should be, but we also give You thanks that through Your Son Jesus we have changed for the better. Amen ]

December [ John 1 v1-14 ]

December is such a dark and dreary month in England ,in many ways depressing, yet there are things that lift the gloom, Christmas lights. I stood outside my home last evening, and noticed the many homes that have lights displayed, these light displays do a lot to lift the gloom, and I enjoy them. I noticed in my diary that on the 22nd of December the Jewish festival of lights is taking place. It is William Barclay, who writes about this festival at the time of Jesus, when in the temple four great candelabas were lit, lighting up the darkest recesses within the temple, and it was during that festival that Jesus cried out,/ I am the light of the world, if you follow me, you wont have to walk in darkness, because you have the light that leads to life [ John 8 v12 ]/,again it is W.B. who points out that the Rabbis declared that the name of the Messiah is Light. It is Graham Kendrick who writes,/Darkness like a shroud covers the earth, evil like a cloud covers the people/,December may be a dark and dreary month, but there is a greater darkness as G. K. rightly points out,to all who are in darkness the words of Jesus is, if you follow Me ,you wont walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.[ Dear God we ask that He who is the light of the world, Jesus Your son, may shine into the hearts of men and women , this Christmas, Amen ]

Hide and seek [ Luke 15 v1- 7 ]

When I was young I remember playing hide and seek,it is the first game that humanity ever played,we read about it in Genesis 3. There was three involved in this game of hide and seek, Adam and Eve, they were doing the hiding, God was doing the seeking, and surprise , surprise, God found them. In Romans 3 v 11, we read,/ no one is seeking after God/, these words remind us that humanity is still hiding from God, foolish though it be , for the fact is ,one cannot hide from God, read Psalm 139, there we are left in no doubt, that there is no hiding place , when it comes to God. In Luke 19 v 10, we read these words, / For the Son of man came to seek and save those who are lost/,people are still trying to hide from from God, but praise His name in His Son, Jesus, He is seeking them out, to save them. [ Dear God and Father thank You for Your Son Jesus the seeker of souls ,who are lost, help us ,to see our part,in this seeking process, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen. ]

All the answers [Habakkuk 3 v16-19 ]

The fact of the matter is I do not have all the answers, oh yes I am a Christian a long time, been to Bible college, been a minister full time, I preach regularly, read my Bible everyday, but I still dont have all the answers. Sometimes the hardest thing for a person to admit is , they dont have all the answers, I wish the scientific community would admit this, and also Christian writers, we all need a good dose of humility. The not having all the answers, for the Christian, demands trust, in 1 Corinthians 13 v 12, we read,/All that I know now is partial/,this side of Glory, many things will not make sense, a death of a child, an incurable illness, oh I know God heals, but often He does not. As I write this I have a hymn playing in the background, the words go like this,/I dont know about tomorrow, I just live from day today, I dont borrow from its sunshine,For its skies may turn to grey, I dont worry oer the future, for I know what Jesus said, And today ill walk beside Him, For He knows what lies ahead/,let that suffice us. [Father forgive us for our lack of trust,we freely acknowledge our limatations, we ask for grace to leave all those things,that we dont know, things that frustrate us,pain us, with You , we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. ]

My loving Heavenly Father.[ Matthew 6 v25 - 34 ]

It is so easy to fall into despair, as I listen to the news on the economy ,and crime,despair can so easily creep in, it does look like we are in for a rough ride.Well I know a little about the rough times, I have experienced unemployment, bereavement, living on very little,I can look back to my childhood, being brought up in a one parent family, my wee mum the only wage earner, that was a time when women where paid less than men, I remember as a boy going to the pawn shop, of going to the local shop for out of date bread. Why am I telling you this ? , just to let you know I survived, and I am not bitter, hopefully those things taught me valuable lessons. Now I have not mentioned that from a very early age, I saw God as my Father, and came to trust Jesus as my Saviour, and as I look back inspite of my background , weakness, and failure to live as I should, God looked after me, and brought me through. [ Father in Heaven we thank You that when we come into Your family by accepting Christ as our Saviour, we come under Your care, Amen ]

Safe. [ Romans 8 v 31 - 39 ]

Sometimes a wave of uncertainty sweeps over one, can we make it to our ultimate destination?, Heaven, I am sure many people think this. I was thinking like this recently when a verse of scripture came into my mind , written by a man who was in prison, and facing death , this is what he wrote,/ I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day/[2 Timothy 1 v12 . a v ]. What had he committed ?, his soul, the soul descibes the most important part of our being, to loose that is to loose everything.Next, to whom did he commit his soul to?, to Christ, and because of this he had confidence that all would be well. Barnes in his commentray writes,/ If the soul is safe, why need we be disturbed by the loss of health, or property , or other temporal comforts?, these are secondary comforts/.[ Father we thank You for your saving and keeping power that is in your Son Jesus , and the tremendous assurance that in Him nothing is able to seperate us from Your love, Amen ]

Nahum [Genesis 18 v 25 ]

Who was Nahum? well he was a prophet , one called by God , he proclaimed Gods word , to whoever God told him to. Nahum spoke Gods word to the Assyrian empire, addressing his words to their capital, Nineveh, the same people Jonah had prophsied to, with success, but they had gone back to their old ways, of being cruel and oppressive. God had showed them mercy, but now the time for Him to act had come, He proclaims Himself to be their enemy, the Lord who is slow to get angry, was angry, judgement was going to fall. I read these words in my study Bible,/Those who do evil and oppress others will one day meet a bitter end/. God is merciful and loving , but when people or individuals oppress others, they better watch out, for God will judge. [Dear God we thank You that You are just, and are not pleased with those who oppress others, please help those who are living under oppression, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen ]

Surrender.[ Galations 5 v 16 - 26 ]

Yesterday we looked at what it means to become a Christian, the surrendering of the will, let us further consider what it means in the Christians life. When we become a Christian we bring many things with us, habits, attitudes ,that we need to change, we all have something that clings to us. It has been said that though God brought Israel out of Egypt, there was still much of Egypt in them, they continually lusted after the things of Egypt, and where so prone to idolatry. For us as Christians we still carry with us many things that continually , we return to,wrong sexual ideas, lying, unforgiving natures, the list is endless, we all know our particular demons, today God is calling us to surrender these things to Him, for many of us it is a daily surrendering. [Father in Heaven , you know how we struggle with so many things that potentially are so destructive,give us the grace we need to not surrender to them but to surrender them to You, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen]

Surrender. [ 1 Corinthians 1 v18- 29 ]

I was watching on the God channel , a Bill Gaither presentation , and was blessed as he and others sang many old hymns which I knew. One of the the hymns was ,I suurender all, and the first verse goes, /All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give, I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live/.I believe one of the important aspects of the Christian life, is that of surrendering to Jesus ,that in order to be saved we must surrender our will, to Him, and simply trust in the claims of His Gospel, we will never be saved until we do this, but once we do surrender,and submit ourselves to Him ,we are saved. I know church people who have never surrendered to Jesus, religious people can be the most resentful of the fact that a surrender to Jesus is what they need to do most of all, that they have to come to Him just as they are, and acknowledge their lostness, their spiritual poverty. [Dear Lord Jesus help us all to see the importance of surrendering to You , as our Saviour, Amen ]

What the Lord wants.[Micah 6 v6-8 ]

In the book of Micah [6v 6-8 ]the question is asked,what does the Lord want?, the Message puts it like this,/ Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would He be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?/. I wonder what we consider , the Lord wants from us?, faithful attendance of church,going to the prayer meeting, reading the Bible every day, praying everyday, witnessing, giving a tenth of our wages, etc.Now all these things are legitimate, as was what we have read in Micah, but as 1 Corinthian 13,, reminds us ,they count for nothing if love is missing. Micah 6v8[ The Message ] says, / what God is looking for in men and women. It is quite simple, do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And dont take yourself too seriously./ [Dear God we confess that we get it wrong so often as to what You want from us, help us to change, help us today to understand, that rules and regulations are not what it is about, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen ]

Confess and move on.[1 John 1 ]

Yesterday I felt pangs of guilt, I felt I should have acted different than I did, what could I do?, well I confessed it to God, as Joyce Meyer says it is hard, living with a guilty conscience. As long as we are in this body we will sin, we will not always act as we should, so what should we do? we confess ,and believe the promise of God, that He is faithful, and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all [note that word all] wickedness, [ 1 John 1v 9 ]. When we have confessed we must move on, and pray that we will act differently the next time we are tempted, believe the word of God, not our feelings, or satan, when God forgives He chooses not to remember, those sins we have confessed to Him. [Father thank You that through Your Son Jesus you trully forgive us, and continue to love us, we praise Your name for such amazing grace, mercy, and love, Amen ]

Is it a wonderful world?. [Revelation 21 v 1 - 5 ]

As I write this blog I have Elvis Presley singing that well known hymn ,/How great thou art/,one of the verses go like this,/ When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down from lofty mountian grander, and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze, Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art./. I was watching a TV program last night , showing an area of Portugal , with its wild life, and it was very lovely. I have personally saw the Swiss alps ,very beautiful, and I can think of many other places, it appears to be a wonderful world, God surely did create a wonderful world, yes He did, but, here is that but again, sin entered in , that which was perfect became flawed, and the crown of His creation, human kind, became a rebel,and nothing has been the same since, a dark shadow hangs over this world, sin. But it is the Christmas season which reminds us of a child , a very special child, that was born, and that child grew to manhood, and died on a cross,to change this world and its inhabithants, those who trust Him, and eventually in His time,He will make a new heaven and earth, and on that day it will trully be a wonderful world. [Father we thank You for the wonder of creation, but most of all we thank You for Jesus who will make all things new, Amen ]

Kept back. [ 1 Samuel 25 v 1-36 ]

In Matthew 6v13 we read those firmilar words,/ lead us not into temptation [ av], do you ever wonder why , we are prevented going to certain places, why we are held back in our endevours or aspirations?. Could it be that God is preventing us in order to save us from temptation, that position that was denied us, could have held temptations that could have harmed us, that relationship that was denied us, would not have been good for us. In Genesis 20v6 we read, /I kept you from sinning/,these are very meaningful words, John Calvin, says this,/ The Spirit restrains, by His bridle, those who are gliding into error, He proves Himself the faithful guardian of His own people, to prevent them from rushing forward, from lighter faults to desperate crimes/, in other words He restraines by denying, and in so doing keeps us from harm.[ Dear God thank You for watching over us, keeping us from sinning, even though we didnt realize it, thank You for deneying us those things that could have harmed us, we pray this in Jesus name, Amen ]

Prayer and faith. [ Luke 1 v8- 25 ]

There was a man called Zechariah, he was a priest, he was married, but he had no children, so he prayed that he might have a child, but nothing happened. Mybe Zechariah felt his request was not going to be granted, both he and his wife were old, but one day while serving the Lord an angel came and spoke to him. The angels presence filled Zechariah with fear, but the angel told him not to be afraid, and told him that God had heard his prayer, and that his wife would have a son. We are told that instead of rejoicing that his prayer was going to be answered,he doubted that such a thing could happen, because of his unbelief he was struck dumb,for a period of time. One can appreciate Zechariahs reasoning, but that is what it was , his reasoning, it was divorced from faith, faith see,s the promise and says it shall be done. [Dear God we come to You and ask that you help us to be people of faith, to believe those promises You give us, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen]

Poverty [2 Corinthians 8 v 9 ]

I remember years ago someone saying to me that I was poor,and I suppose I was , materially I had not much, yet by the grace of God I was rich in faith. There are many in this world who are poor, little or nothing to eat, or to wear, there are the have,s and the have not,s.As I looked at the nativity scene in my living room the words of scripture came into my mind,regarding the Lord Jesus,/ Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that through His poverty He could make you rich,/ [ 2 Corinthians 8 v9 ]. My study Bible says,/ that there is no evidence that Christ was any poorer than most first-century Palistinians,/ yet the scriptures do indicate, that our Lord ,did rough it. The point is this,who He was and what He choose to become, He was God, He became a man as Philippians 2v7 , tells us, / in other words He gave up His divine privileges, now that is trully becoming poor. [Dear Lord Jesus we thank You for Your great humility in becoming poor for us,help us show the same spirit in our lives, Amen ]

Indifference [ Revelation 3 v 14 -22.]

In the book of Revelation we read of a church that was indifferent, oh yes they still met together, to sing hymns etc,but as Christ looked at this church, they made Him sick. This was a rich church, rich materially, and they knew it, this filled them with pride, and they boasted about it.Mybe they even felt it was a sign of Gods blessing, now of course it can be, but in this case it had become a blight on their relationship with their Lord, to such a point,that He was outside the church, knocking to get in. For churches as indeed for individual Christians ,material prosperity can bring dangers, the church of Laodicea was in great danger of self destructing. The story is told how during a time of persecution , that soldiers broke into a church and demanded of the leaders of the church, to hand over their riches, the leaders took them to a hall at the rear of the church, which was filled with the poor and the sick, they pointed to them ,and said these are ,our riches.[ Father in heaven we thank You for all Your blessings,as you have blessed us help us to bless others, may your blessings never take Your place in our hearts, we ask this in Jsus name, Amen ]

Struggling [Psalm 103 ]

It may surprise us to know that people are struggling, people we think have it all together, our heroes . In my time I have read many books on famous people , missionaries, preachers, I have also met many well known Christians. We can so easily put them on a pedestal, but the fact of the matter is they struggle at times, they dont always wake up with a song, as the Bible tells us, they are as human as we are [James 5v17 ]. I am not pointing this out so we can judge them, rather that we can see things in a realistic way, and keep our eyes on Jesus, Everyone of us without exception, struggle and everyone of us need the Lord to help us, which He will. If you are struggling today ask the Saviour to help you, he understands, and He will grant you the grace you need. [ Father in Heaven You know everything about us, nothing is hid from You, You see behind the outward show, the fears, the pain, the weakness, and so we ask in the name of Jesus for grace, for this day, Amen ]

Welcome. [ Revelation 3 v 20 ]

There is a song the Irish sing and it goes,/ If your Irish come into the parlour theres a welcome there for you/, there is also a church in Belfast called the Welcome Hall. It is nice to feel welcome when we go somewhere , there have places I have gone to and I have not felt welcomed. Being a Christian can mean that you are not always welcome, because you have witnessed to people, and they didnt like it, there were times when our Saviour was not welcome, and the fact of the matter He is still not welcome, in the vast majority of lives today. As a Christian I remember when Jesus was not welcome in my life, when He knocked on the door of my heart, and I refused to answer,yet thankfully He kept knocking, and now He is the welcome presence in my life. I wonder is He knocking on your hearts door?.[ Dear Lord Jesus thank You for Your patience ,we ask that you will help us to welcome You into our hearts, as Saviour, Amen ]

What would Jesus do ?.[ 1 Peter 2 v 21 ]

Many years ago a dear friend read a book which had an deep impact on his life, I cant remember the title of that book, but I do remember the thing that impacted on his life, and it was this, /What would Jesus do ?. / What would Jesus do ?, a simple thought, yet if one thinks about it, it is a profound thought, and a very challenging thing to put into practice.What would Jesus do about giving, forgiving,helping, and so on, can we put it into practice ,can we rise to the challenge?. Lets ask ourselves as we go through this day, what would Jesus do, in every situation we find ourselves in, let us pray,[Father we call ourselves Christians, but we are so conscious that we are but poor reflections of Christ, help us this day, to be more Christlike,in everything, Amen.]

Faith [Hebrews 11 v 6 ]

There is an old hymn with the words,/ only believe/, in it, it is telling us that faith is the key , only believe, seems so simple, and it is. To become a Christian we must believe in the Lord Jesus,when we do this then we enter into a life of faith,that means we face ever problem, by faith. The Christian life is a life of faith , that means you must live this day by faith, whatever you face you are called to face it by faith. It all sounds so simple as I have said, and in reality it is , yet it is one of the things we find hardest to do, as we read the Bible we see people struggling with the life of faith, compare, Numbers 13-14 , Mark 4 v36-41, we are no different,if we are honest. The great cry of the reformation was,/The just shall live by faith,[ Galations 3 v11 ], nothing has changed, and never will , while we live, so today let us live by faith. [Father we come to You by faith, we confess our weakness and failure to rise to to the challenge of living by faith, please grant us the grace we need, to face this day by faith, we ask this in Jesus name ,Amen ]

Leave it.[1 Peter 2 v 23/ 5 v 7 ]

While I believe in human responsibility,if I have to preach, I know I have to pray and study, if I want the good things in life then I have to work, and save, if I am ill I need to go to the doctors, thats human resonsibility. I also feel constrained to leave certain things by faith in Gods hands, to pray , and not to interfere, I cant change people, nor can you, life is also full of situations we cant change, the temptation may be to do something, remember what I said yesterday,learn to live in God, and so often that means leaving things in His hands. The scriptures tell us to,/ Give our burdens to the Lord and He will take care of us [Psalm 55v22 ], [ Dear loving Heavenly father ,we cast all our burdens upon You, our problems with people, our circumstances, our needs, give us the grace to leave all these things in Your hands, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]