Saul and David.[ Psalm 51 ]

Saul and David were the first two kings of Israel,both chosen by God,both accomplished much, one is seen as a failure the other as a success. Saul the failure, David the successful one, and yet they both failed,Saul failed in his disobedience,[ cp 1 Samuel 13 and 15, he then went on to do other things, that were wrong. But David was far from being lily white, oh no ,he committed a terrible sin, adultery and murder, cp 2 Samuel 11. So here we have two men both chosen by God, both were the Lords annointed, both inperfect, yet it is David who is seen as Israels greatest king,why?. I think it was ,that David when he did wrong , repented of his sin, sincerely, read Psalm 51, Saul never did, he appeared to be more concerned with keeping his position as king, than dealing with those issues in his life , that needed dealing with,he trully failed to change, and so in the end he paid the price. Like Saul and David, we will fail, we will sin, the question is, are we willing to repent, that means acknowledging our sin to God, and turning away from it.[ Dear God help us to acknowledge our failures and our sins, grant us the grace, that we may trully repent, help us to see that all unrepented sin , will bring a terrble cost with it, in Jesus name we pray this Amen ]

We are meant to be different [Matthew 5v 13 -16 ]

We are meant to be different, if we are Christians, but in what way?, when I came back to the Lord, the difference included not smoking, not going to the cinema, avoiding things that were considered worldly. There was also the emphasis on attending church , and becoming involved in church activities, such as prayer meetings, Bible studies, outreach, ,much of this is positive, I dont long for those days, but in many ways I do thank God for them ,and I just wonder if we have lost something along the way?, it does seem these days we are less connected to the body, that is the church. Much has changed in church life, during my life time, a lot of churches are smaller,and appear very ineffective. I hold unto the truth of what Jesus said, He would build His church, and this He will do, so we need not fear as regards His church,, let us seek to be light, and salt, wherever our Lord has placed us,let us pray that our difference , will trully be a Christlike difference.

Speaking out the word of God [ Matthew 4 v 1 - 11 ]

It is Joyce Meyer who says that we should speak out the word of God to ourselves, this struck me this morning as I read in a devotional, Genesis 50 v 20,/ God meant it for good/. These words were spoken by Joseph, he spoke them to his brothers , who had treated him shamefully, Joseph could have said hurtful things, he could have passed the death sentence on them, but he didnt. I am sure those words were for his brothers benifite, for our benifite, and his own benifite. Today speak out the word of God for others benifite, and our own,let us use the sword of the Spirit to put to flight the enemy of our souls, and to strengthen us.If Joseph had not spoken out those words we would never have had the benifite of them, so today speak out the word for the sake of others and for your own sakes. [ Father we thank You for the living word of God, help us to speak it out to day, to ourselves , and to others, and as we do strengthen us, in Jesus name we ask this Amen.

Perfect, true, and certain.[ 2 Samuel 22 v 31 ]

In his song of praise in 2 Samuel 22, David declares in verse31,three things [1 ]Gods way is perfect. Consider that inspite of all that David had experienced, he still declares that Gods way is perfect,mybe you are going through difficulties, or have experienced difficulties that have left you feeling unsettled and unsure, it does not seem that Gods way is perfect.The hymn writer , wrote,/Blind unbelief is sure to err , and scan His works in vain/. By faith , and only by faith, can we say , Gods way is perfect. [ 2 ] All the Lords promises prove true, God always keeps His word, you can bet on it, so let us all rest on His promises today, they will prove true. [ 3 ] He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection,it is important to look to God, ask yourself, who am I looking too?look unto Jesus today, in Him , and in Him alone is protection,provision, and all we need. [ Dear Lord Jesus, we declare by faith that your way to be perfect, Your word to be true, and Your protection to be certain. Amen ]

A song of praise [ 2 Samuel 22 ]

In 2 Samuel 22 we have a song of praise written by David, and which he also song himself, David was a very gifted person, a very blessed person, but he was also a person who experienced a lot of trouble. God was very gracious unto David and rescued him , time after time from his enemies, and so he wrote a song of praise. Today, why not offer unto God a song of praise,for all His goodness, let us stop and remember, how the Lord has delivered us,provided for us, protected us, defended us, promoted us,kept us, helped us, upheld us, strengthened us, guided us. Praise is a giving of thanks, it is a song of thanksgiving, it should come from the heart,and let us remember God is worthy to be praised, many will be singing the praises of their football team , many will be praising others,and so many things ,today let us praise our God, for He is worthy of our praise. [ Father in Heaven we give You praise, You have done so much for us, saved us through Your dear Son, made us Your children, and blessed us continually,we offer our praise and thanksgiving to You, in Jesus name Amen ]

Frustrations [ Psalm 40 v 1 ]

Over my life I have had to contend with frustrations, times of unemployment, personal relationships , so the question is ,what does one do when faced with frustration?. It was Rudyard Kipling who wrote, / If you can keep your head when all about you ,Are losing theirs and blaming it on you/, now this is easier said than done. So what can we do ? a good question. First of all consider, that God is Sovereign , inspite of everything that may be going wrong, he is in control,He has not suddenly fallen asleep on the job. Secondly ,God is in the buisness of creating ,in us, Christian character, and one of most important characteristics is patience, consider how patient Christ was with the disciples, we all without exception have need of patience.Thirdly, Prayer,we all know the importance of prayer,but we all have still much to learn about it, so our great teacher brings us into situations to teach us. [Dear Father in Heaven, we bring all our frustrations to You,and we ask that You would minister peace into our hearts, and a trust in your Sovereign purposes, we ask this in our Saviours precious name , Amen ]

Can we be sure?[ John 11 v 25 ]

A friend mentioned about death, I dont know if he is a Christian, but I replied to what he said, well thats true ,but I am saved, and then He asked, are you sure?, I said I was, for Jesus said that he was the resurrection and the life that those who believe in Him even though they die , shall live. Yes here is the wonderful truth we can be absolutely certain that we are going to heaven, if we have trusted Jesus as our Saviour. Many live with an uncertainity as regards their eternal destiny, why is that?, because they have never trusted Jesus to save them. My certainty is based upon /a life I did not live, and upon a death I did not die /[these are not my words ], or in the words of the old hymn, / My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, no merit of my own I claim, but wholly trust in Jesus name/. He is the reason I am absolutely certain I am going to heaven, are you certain ?. [ Father in this world full of uncertainties we thank You that we can know we are saved eternally, when we trust in Jesus Your dear Son, Amen ]

The way of the cross. [ Matthew 5 v 38 - 48 ]

The sermon on the mount is very challenging,in Matthew 5v38-41, we are told not to resist an evil person, it speaks of turning the other cheek, of yielding to the unreasonable .The Apostle Paul emphasizes the truths of the sermon on the mount in his Romans letter, chapter 12 v 14 reads ,/ Bless those who persecute you. Dont curse them, pray that God will bless them. v17/Never pay back evil with evil. v19/Never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous God. This is the Calvary way, it is the way of the cross, and it is the way we have to go today, it is acting as Christ acted .When wicked people had done their worst to Him ,He prayed for their forgivness, He died loving His persecuters, it is not the worlds way, to them it is nonsense,we all have a choice today ,to go our Saviours way ,or our own way, whats it going to be?. [ Dear Lord Jesus help us to rise up to Your teaching, help us to walk the Calvary road, to take up our cross and follow You. Amen ]

Do what you can. [ Mark 14 v 3- 9 ]

There is an old Gospel hymn which goes,/ By and by when I look on His face , I wish I had given Him more/,and I am sure we all feel that to some extent, in relation to so much,our giving, witnessing, serving, and so on.Unfortunately this can lead to us feeling guilty , the result is we become a driven person,and find ourselves living under a cloud of condemnation, judging ourselves, and even judging others.The Christian life is very challenging, yes it does bring demands,but our Lord does not overburden us, we are not in a competition, to win His favour , we already have it.So today relax, do what you can, do what you can as unto your Lord, I believe that will please Him, and in the end that is what counts.[Father help us to relax today, help us to not be driven, but to be led, and to realise that we are loved,help us to do what we can, and leave that with You, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

Jesus[ John 21 v 15 -17 ]

Let us stop and ask the question, how much do we love Jesus? do we love Jesus? for that is what the Christian life is about,to know Him is to love Him, to love Jesus is to be loved.What does Jesus mean to you ?,is He just another part of your life or is He your life, how deep is your love for Him?,it is easy to use the word Christian, and not really know Jesus, there will those who will call Jesus Lord,yet Jesus will say I never knew you,[ Matthew 7 v23 ]. Jesus is not standing pointing a finger of condemnation at us, but He is whispering into our hearts love me for I love you, serve Me , love me unreservedly,unreservedly, no excuses, no arguing. To love Jesus appears so simple, and it is , if we are childlike, but so many have lost that childlikeness, if we are to know Jesus we must return to that childlikeness, and then we must never loose that childlikeness, for it is in that childlikeness we express the love that Jesus desires, and most of all recieve His love, to love Him is to know Him.[ My Jesus I love Thee I know Thou art mine, For thee all the pleasures of sin I resign, I love Thee, because Thou hast first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvarys tree, I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thou brow. If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus tis now . Amen ]

Greatness [ Philippians 2 v 5 - 11 ]

I sometimes watch the Antique Road Show, on T V , people bring all sorts of things, and are given all sorts of imformation about the objects they have brought, but it is the last bit of imformation I want to hear, its value, what is the cost of it. Cost, being a Christian brings a challenge , and its this, the cost, each new day brings the challenge, am I prepared to pay the cost of being a Christian. Consider what our Saviour said,/ The greatest among you must be servant of all. [Matthew 23 v11 ] /, I do struggle with those words, and what they mean for me, and sometimes I resent being a servant, helping others ,working and getting no thanks, why should I give up my bed, why should I , you get the picture. Our blessed Lord was the servant king, how contradictory those words appear, and yet they are so true, He who was King of Kings, became the servant of all, and it cost Him everything, even His very life. [Dear Lord Jesus thank You for being a servant of all, a servant to the ungrateful, unthankful, unlovely,unkind, to our shame we at times struggle to follow in Your footsteps, grant us the grace today to be the servant of all, Amen ]

Need [ Matthew 11 v28 -30 ]

George Herbert the poet ,wrote about God making man, and that restlessness that is within man ,and so he writes,/ Let him be rich and weary, that at least, If goodness lead him not, yet weariness May toss him to My breast. As I observe life I observe many weary souls , although people are blest with many things, yet like the old Rolling Stones number, they cant get no satisfaction. There is an old saying in Ulster where I come from, /There is a want in him/,this can be applied to all humanity, there is a want in them, the great shopping malls are a testimony to the want in mankind, everybody has their want list.Many pray to their god, let me win the lottery, thats what I want. Whats more important is not our wants but our needs, and what we all need is salvation, by trusting Christ , then we need to develop a relationship with Him, this is what we should want more than anything else.[ Dear God in Your mercy grant unto us what we need, be it riches or be it pain, be it sunshine or rain, that Your grand design may be fufilled in our lives, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

Decisions [ Psalm 32 v 1 - 2 ]

Every day we are faced with decisions, some important others not so important, the most important decision I ever made was to accept Christ as my Saviour. This decision changed my whole life, once I made that decision I would never be the same, it brought a new emphasis into my life, so many things followed from that one decision. This decision brought the presence of the Lord into my life, a presence that has never left me, and never will. With the presence of the Lord in my life, I could no longer live as I used to, before this I let my mind dwell on so much that was wrong,I made decisions on my own, I did it my way. That decision of trusting the Lord is something I have never regretted, the hymn writer, wrote ,/ O happy day that fixed my choice on Thee, my Saviour and my God, / it trully was a happy day, I will never regret that decision, and indeed I will bless in death a bond so dear.[ Dear God thank You for Your grace that enables us to trust Your Son Jesus as Saviour , that enables us to make that all important decision . Amen ]

Gods stange choices. [ 1 Corinthians 1 v26 - 29 ]

Each journey begins with one step, today we may be faced with many tasks , problems and difficulties, how are we to cope?.The answer one prayerful step at a time , let each step be bathed in prayer, each step depending on Gods help. Remember Gods way for you and me is the path of weakness, it may seem a strange way, not the worlds way,the worlds way is the survival of the strongest. Hudson Taylor was one of my spiritual heroes, he founded the China Inland Mission, he was introduced at a meeting as ,/ our illustrious guest,when he rose to speak, he said, Dear friends , I am the little servant of an illustrious Master/. The fact of the matter is,we are all little servants , of an illustrious Master, yet in our littleness Jesus can use us for His glory. [ Dear Lord Jesus, help us this day to know Your strength in our littleness, your power in our weakness,your help in our helplessness , Amen ]

Fear of death.[ Psalm 23/ John 10 v11]

I am reading a book by a man called Julian Barnes, he is an atheist, he starts of by saying,/ I dont believe in God, but I miss Him/, as I read this book I sense that this dear man ,is in fact searching for God. The book is about , the fear of death, he writes of the composer Rachmaninov, who was terrified of death, Rachmaninov surprised his friends when he didnt talk about death. Julian tells the story, of how Rachmaninov visited a friends home , while there he had his fortune told, in order to find out when he would die. Then he spoke to his friends daughter on the subject of death, as he did, he began to eat some pistachio nuts,as he ate them , he suddenly broke off and laughed,these pistachio nuts have made my fear of death go away. Do you know where to?no one could tell him. When he left , his friends gave him a sack full of pistachio nuts, to cure his fear of death. There is something amusing about this story, and yet sad, in this modern age people dont talk about death, it is brushed under the mat, but of course it wont go away, The word of God tells us that it is appointed unto men once to die and after,[Hebrews 9 v 27 ] yes there is an after, ask yourself this question ,if you were to die today where would you spend eternity?. Jesus said that He was the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believed in Him ,even though they die , would live.[ John 11 v25 ] A bag of nuts , or whatever ,may help relieve our fear of death, but they will not save us, only faith in Christ can do that. [ Dear God Your word tells us clearly that death is not the end , that there is a heaven and a hell, and that the only way to be saved from hell is to believe on Your dear son Jesus, help us this day to trust Him as our Saviour, Amen ]

Be doing. [ Romans 13 v 11-14 ]

When Martin Luther King, was in prison for His civil rights activities , he recieved criticism from many people, even from some black glergy, so he wrote a long and meaningful letter, to challenge his critics. Some of the critics were saying wait, things would gradually improve for the black man, Martin responded by saying the following,/ For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This wait has almost meant never/. Martin was not prepared to wait and rightly so, action was what was needed, and he was prepared to take that action ,even though it meant being misunderstood , even though it meant persecution, even though it meant death, which it eventually did. There is a place for waiting in all our lives but there is also a place for taking action in, evangelism, in dealing with those wrong things we need to deal with, in relation to salvation, there are so many areas in our lives in which we are prepared to just wait, when with Gods help we should be prepared to act. [Dear God and Father, help us to rise up and be doing, help us to see that we have waited long enough, forgive us for making excuses, for being lazy, for putting off till tomorrow what we should be dealing with today, in the name of Jesus we ask this Amen .]

What we need [2 Corinthians 12 v 1- 10 ]

Are you burdened today? well what can one do with the burdens we carry?, as I write this I thought on the apostle Paul, and what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11, there he shares with his readers , the things he had ,to cope with. Consider them ,/Hard work,imprisonment,being whipped time without number,facing death continually, being stoned, being shipwrecked, in danger from his own people, the Jews, from robbers,being hungry and thirsty, having not enough clothes to keep him warm. You would think that all those things were enough to cope with,but he goes unto to write of having a daily burden and concern for the churches.If we move unto chapter twelve we also read of the apostle having a thorn in the flesh, [ some bodily ailment ]. What would any of us do if we had to face such things? how did he manage?, the answer is very simple , the grace of God. [2 Corinthians 12v 9]. Whatever we are called to face this day, the way to face it , is by the grace of God, it is all we need., consider the words of the old hymn,/Through many dangers , toils and snares, I have already come, tis grace hath brought me safe thus far , and grace will lead me home. So today ,let us trust God for the grace we need. [ God of all grace we come to you in all our need, grant unto us all the grace we need, for all that we have to face today we ask this in the name of Jesus Amen ]

Live without fear.[ Luke 12 v 4-7 ]

The other day I spotted from my living room window a little sparrow, I thought ,I feel so insignificant like that sparrow, and then I remembered what my Saviour taught, that God does not forget a single one of them, He then reminds us that we are more valuable than many sparrows. Because we are of value to God we are not to be afraid, many are fearful today, fear stalks the land, unemplyment, sickness,the list is endless. Are you fearful today? if you are a child of God , think on what your Saviour taught, that your loving heavenly Father is watching over you. The hymn writer puts it like this, / Let not my heart be troubled, His tender words I hear, And resting in His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears, Tho by the path He leadeth, But one step I may see, His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me./ Today let us live with confidence in our loving heavenly Fathers care, knowing that He will not fail us, we are of so much value to Him that He give His son Jesus to die for us, Romans 8 v32, reads,/ He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him also freely give us all things/. [ Father in heaven we thank You that you love us so much, and value us so much ,that You gave Your dear Son to die for us on Calvary,help us to live without fear, to live with the confidence that You will care for us come what may, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

I remember [ Lamentations 3 v22 -25 ]

Easter Sunday for me is a time when I remember, the night when I attended a church, in Belfast, and surrendered my life afresh to Jesus, that night my life changed, for good, my life took on a new direction. That was forty five years ago,it hasnt been glory all the way but it has been grace all the way, but one day it will be eternal glory. Within those forty five years many things have happened, it has been forty five years of following Jesus, we dont have days off, in following Jesus, it is an everyday experience. Often I have not understood the way I was being led , but with hindsight, I can see Gods purposes and understand them more clearly, and can trully say , all the way my Saviour led me. There have been tears and joy, but most of all , and best of all He my Saviour has been with me, yes I remember, and I give thanks. [Dear loving Father we give You thanks for intervening in our lives through Jesus Your son, we acknowledge Your love, mercy, and grace, has transformed us, for the better, and as we face the unknown future we are confident that You will be with us, to change us,to lead us, and to bless us , Amen ]

Secure [ Psalm 23 ]

Continually God speaks words of assurance to His people, why? because so many of them feel insecure, I wonder why that is?. Well I suppose life has a great deal of uncertainty about it, a hundred to one shot won the grand national, the fact is we can take all the precautians we feel that is necessary , and still find ourselves in a place of vulnerability.Nothing is totally certain in life,we can hedge our bets but still loose out,so in the midst of all this uncertainty it is important that we hear from God, and to believe what He says to us personally.Today if things are getting on top of you , turn to Gods word, hear what He has to say to you, and rest in it, pray over it,believe it, turn to Psalm 23,and meditate on those wonderful words. Like a little child who snuggles up on their mums lap , to them that is the place of warmth and security, so today let us snuggle up to our loving Heavenly Father, let His loving arms enfold you, and be at peace.[ Father we come into your presence and ask that You would help us to know in our hearts Your peace, and comfort, in the midst of this very insecure world, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen ]

The real point of Calvary [ Isaiah 53 ]

I read a daily devotional which was stressing the question of , / Who crucified Jesus? /, to me that is not the vital question, Im not saying it is not important, I believe the more important question is , why was Jesus crucified?. Jesus was crucified on the cross because of His love for humanity, that means you and me. The cross is about dealing with the great problem of sin, your sin and my sin, God loves this world that means you and me, but because of our sin we are alenated from God, we are in a very real sense without God and without hope. In order to deal with this terrible problem God in the person of His son, sent Him into this world, with the purpose of dealing with the sin problem. Sin must be punished, that punishment means eternal seperation from God,so on the cross Jesus bore that punishment, so that all who trust in Jesus as Saviour, are saved from eternal seperation from God. The cross of Jesus opens up the way for God to have a relationship, with humanity,that means you and me, I have to stress the importance of each individual trusting Jesus personally, it only becomes effective when we do this.[God we thank You for sending Your Son into this world to die on the cross for sin , help us to trust in Jesus as our Saviour today Amen ]

Giving [ Matthew 6 v25-34 ]

I have come to a conclusion, it has taken me many years to come to it, and its this I believe in giving, not tithing, in saying this I know that many will disagree .I believe that tithing is to do with the old covenant, I live under the new covenant,no where does it teach believers to tithe. To tithe is safe , but to believe in giving as is taught in the new covenant, appears more risky, and more challenging, compare Matthew 6 v19- 21/ Luke 6 v38/Mark 12 v41 -44. The giving I am talking about is to do with money, but we can broaden it out to embrace all of life, our time our gifts our abilities. Let me say this we are to be guided by the Spirit of God, and the word of God, we are to prayerfully, commit all things to God. [Dear God help us to rise to what it means to live under the new covenant, help us by Your grace to meet every challenge of this day, and to respond to those challenges as our Saviour would have us to do Amen ].

The jumble of life.[ Luke 10 v 38 - 42 ]

.Years ago in the far distant past there used to be jumble sales a favourite activity to raise money, they are no longer. Life often appears like piles of jumble, a mixture of so many things, as we consider this jumble we can despair, because we feel we cannot sort the jumble out. At times we feel overloaded, and dont know how we are going to manage in this jumble of life. There was a lady in the Bible who felt that life was a jumble ,her name was Martha, she had so much to do, she couldnt cope, so she did what most of us do she moaned and complained to Jesus. First of all Jesus gently rebuked her, and then He pointed to a person who had chosen to quitely stop and listen to Him. The jumble of life can only be dealt with if we let Jesus first of all deal with us, by getting us to bring Him into the situation, we need to continually seek the Lord , wait upon Him, bring all the jumble of life to Him, and if we do ,we will really be surprised how He will sort out all the jumble of life. [ Dear Lord Jesus sometimes life overwhelms us ,it really appears to be a jumble of things, so today we commit everything to You, for only You can enable us to cope, and only You can sort out the jumble of life . Amen ]

Speaking and not thinking [ James 1 v 19 ]

In Luke 9 v 28 -36 , we read of Jesus , James, John and Peter going up a mountain to pray, there are times when we need to get away from the pressures of life. In this day and age when prayer meetings are in decline ,I am sure it would benifite us all to meet with other Christians, to pray, mybe your Christian workmates. We read that when Jesus prayed, something happened, we may not always realize ,that when we pray something happens,first of all God is listening,[ 1Peter 3 v 12] What happened was Moses and Elijah appeared unto Jesus, one was the great law giver , the other a great prophet, they spoke of Jesus exodus from the world , and as these two were about to leave,it was then that Peter spoke with out thinking. Today let us ask God to help us to not speak without thinking, to hold our tongue, and pray inwardly, and then as the Spirit guides, be quite or speak as He leads. [Father help us to control those impulses to speak when we should be quite, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

Earthquakes [ Acts 16 v 25 -34 ]

An earthqake in Italy,people killed , injuried, homeless, earthquakes come so unexpectantly,when Christ was crucified there was an earthquake, and instead of people dying we read of people coming alive. [ Matthew 27 v 50- 53 ]. Christ is the giver of life, not death, Jesus died that we may live, and live life to the fullest, some people think accepting Christ robs one of life, not so. Sometimes God has to send an earthquke into lives in order to bring them into life, sinners are so stubborn to the point of folly, in our unsaved state we are so blind, so determined to go to Hell, and like the people in the parable in [ Luke 19v 12- 27] we cry out, / we will not have this man to reign over us /. So God sends earthquakes, not to destroy but to awake people out of their sleep of death, these earthquakes come in many forms, if you are in an earthquake situation it is every possibility God is speaking to you,it is sent in mercy, dont resent it, humble yourself, and seek the Lord while He can be found.[Dear God we acknowledge our stubbornness, hardness, blindness, we ask that You will help us to find You in our earthquake experiences, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen ]

Then Jesus came. [ Luke 8 v26 -39 ]

Then Jesus came, these are the words of an old gospel hymn, I have just read the account in the Bible of a man whose life was an absolute misery, he was possessed by an evil power, people had tried to help him, but to no avail. He lived in the cemetery, he was naked and homeless, his life was a living hell, and it would have continued to be so, because , he could not help himself, nor could anyone else, then Jesus came, and in a moment all was changed. By the power of Jesus he was set free,and we read these wonderful words, that when the people from the local town came, people who knew him, had witnessed his terrible condition, they now found the man sitting at Jesus feet, fully clothed, and perfectly sane. When Jesus comes into a life be it ever so messed up, there will be a change, He deals with the badness and the madness, for all is changed when Jesus comes to stay.[ Father we thank You for the transforming power of Your dear son Jesus, we thank You that when He enters a life , that life is changed always for the better. Amen ]

Greater love. [John 15 v 13 ]

Our Saviour said, / There is no greater love than to lay down ones life for ones friends, [John 15 v13 ]/, and then He adds, /You are my friends/. Much is written about love , because love is important, to all of us, we want to be loved, and we desire evidence of being loved.When Jesus died on the cross , He was showing His disciples, that greater love, but not just to His disciples, He was showing every human being, that greater love, He was saying to this world you want evidence of my love, well look to the cross,yes I was showing that greater love to my friends, but I was also declaring that greater love to my enemies ,[ cp Romans 5 v 6-11], in order that they may become my friends. Today Jesus is reaching out His nail scared hands to you ,whoever you are, these hands are hands of love, they come from a heart of greater love, will you simply take that hand and accept Him as your Saviour. [ Dear Lord Jesus it amazes me how much You love us, by going to Calvary and dying on that old rugged cross, help us all to respond to that greater love. Amen ]

Pain [ 1 Peter 1 v 6- 7 ]

No one likes pain,yet generally speaking pain is a good thing, it is a message from our bodies telling us there is something wrong. One of the difficulties about having leprosy is one cannot feel pain in different parts of the body, so if you damage your foot you would not know it , so infection sets in, and you loose your toes. What about painful experiences ?, when we recieve hurts from others, or we loose our jobs, or our homes, is that a good thing, let me say, those things in themselves are not good, and we all need to pray for those who are experiencing such things, what I would say is this, keep trusting , know that God is in control, that inspite of everything ,He loves you. I feel I should share a poem with you, that means a lot to me it goes,/ Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are so needful, In the weavers skilful hand, As the threads of gold and silver, In the pattern He has planned. [ Loving Heavenly Father help us to continue to trust YOU in our pain, be it the pain of loneliness, loss, frustrations, whatever, and help us to see that weeping only lasts for the night and that joy will come in the morning, in Jesus name we pray this Amen .]

Let us not forget [Romans 8 v 28 av ]

On the ongoing course of life I continually need to remember that God is Sovereign, that means inspite of everything that is happening in this world, He rules. When we declare that God is Sovereign we are making a declaration of faith , for we are told that the just shall live by faith.[ Habakkuk 2 v 4. av ]. Habakkuk was full of complaints and questions, as to why things were happening, he saw into the future and he did not like what he saw, so he complains and questions God. Like Habakkuk we may be complaining and questioning God, we have all been down that road. Habakkuk ends His prophecy by declaring, /The Sovereign Lord is my strength. [3 v 19 ]/ Whatever is happening in our lives God is in control , He has not suddenly deserted us, no He is guiding, controlling, and over-ruling in all the circumstances of our lives, so today trust Him. [Sovereign God we bow before You in humility, we ask that You will help us in the midst of lifes difficulties, and frustrations, to trust in Your over-ruling providence, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Jesus is Lord means Freedom. [John 8 v 33 v 36 ]

As I was driving home yesterday I saw these large words on the side of a building , /Jesus is Lord/, and I found myself saying , He is. As we look at history we see so many people who died and fought to be free, freedom is something we value, so how does those words ,Jesus is lord, rest with you today?. I remember before I came back to the Lord I was anything but free, I was ruled by so many harmful things, Jesus said ,/ everyone who sins is a slave to sin [John 8 v 34 ]/, we live in a so called free country but, lets be honest, so many are far from free. In v36 of John 8 , we read,/ if the Son sets you free, you are trully free, coming to Christ as Saviour , and Lord is the first step to freedom, as we yield our lives to His Lordship, we discover the meaning of true freedom, let me ask the question, answer it honestly are you free?, you can be if Jesus becomes your Lord.[Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You that You can set us free , free from sins power, help us all to yield to You as Saviour and Lord . Amen ]