Serving this generation [ Matthew 28 v 18-20 ]

Many Christians get caught in a time warp, a favourite saying is,/ we always did it that way/, many of us are resistent to moving on. There are churches who have introduced laws that forbid there members to use certain translations,and fail to live up to the translation they use. Stop and consider, the great spiritual needs out there, and let us ask ourselves how best can we serve this generation?, what will it take to bring men and women to Christ?.The days of Billy Graham are gone.It was Billy who said,/ The world is changing, and with it the methods of evangelism will change also. But the message will not change, for it is timeless, meant for every generation/.Meant for every generation, so let us ask ourselves, and let us ask God how best we can serve this generation, for the times they are a changing, and we must move with the times. [Father help us to hold fast to Your truth, yet help us and guide us by Your Spirit, as to how best we can serve this genereation, in Jesus name ]

Faith in God.[ Hebrews 11 v 1-6 ]

The philosopher Bertrand Russell who was also an atheist,was asked, what if he tuned out to be wrong, and what if the pearly gates were neither a metaphor nor a fantasy,and he found himself faced by a deity he had always denied? Well , Russell used to reply, I would go up to Him, and I would say, You didnt give us enough evidence. I believe God has given us enough evidence,creation, the Jews ,and the historical Christ,and yet I know these will not necessary convince people of the exsistence of God,it comes down to faith, one must have a tremendous lot of faith to be an athiest. Of course many people do believe in a God, but let us remember that faith in a god is not enough, we must believe in the God of the Bible,that triune God , Father , Son, and Holy Spirit, and if we are going to be saved we need to believe on Jesus to be our Saviour.[ Dear God we thank You for faith, a faith in You as creator ,and the One who saves through Your Son , Jesus, Amen ]

Life [ Philippians 3 v1-11 ]

Our Lord Jesus said He had come to give life that was rich and satisfying, continually He spoke of giving and recieving life, eternal life.This life is different than the life that most of us think about, it is not based upon material things, or comfort,or perfect health, in fact it may mean the opposite of all those things. Oswald Chambers wrote,/Our personal property and possessions are a matter of indifference, we have to sit loosely to all those things, if we do not,there will be panic and heartbreak and distress/. Our Saviour describes the life that He gives as, a fresh, bubbling spring within us, [John 4 v14] within us, thats the important thing,there is no way to buy or purchase this life, it comes when Christ becomes our Saviour. If we have Christ we may loose everything, but have everything, because we have Him,and all that this means. It will mean taking up our cross and following Him, but in that experience, we will be surprised by a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and a peace that passeth all understanding.[ Dear Lord Jesus help us to look beyond our difficulties,to You, fill us with Your joy,and peace, Amen ]

Death [ John 11 v 25 ]

Death, now thats a bright thought to start the day with, mybe you feel like turning of this blog, as you dont fancy being reminded of death. Could be, you are grieving over the death of a loved one, or a friend, mybe you are facing death, because of an illness. The obvious fact is we will all be touched by death ,sooner or later we will loose someone close to us, and of course we will all die, science only helps us to delay the inevitable. We were never meant to die, but because of sin we all will, it can been seen as a natural act, but in other ways it is unnatural, thats why we try to avoid talking about it, and find it hard to come to terms with.In 1 Corinthians 15v 26, death is called an enemy, but in that chapter we are told of the resurrection, and how those who believe in Jesus, can know victory over death. I love those words in Psalm 23v4, which reads,Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, a shadow cannot hurt us , and if Christ is with us then we have nothing to fear.[Dear God calm our fears as regards death, we thank You that through Your Son Jesus, sin can be dealt with, and victory over death is assured, Amen ]

Be prepared. [Ephesians 6 v10 -18 ]

The scouts motto is / Be prepared/,yesterday something happened which I was not prepared for, I was taken by surprise.It is Peter who exhorts us to be on our guard [2 Peter 3 v17 ], it is so easy to become complacent, to fall asleep on the job.We all know the dangers of falling asleep as we drive, but many people do, we all have read of king Arthur who fell asleep and burnt the cakes,these are all lessons for all of us to be on our guard, against the ,world, the flesh, and the devil.We must live in such a way, as to do battle, to stand our ground, to be prepared to fight the good fight of faith, that is why we need each day, to spend time with God,and right throughout this day to pray without ceasing. Let us be prepared for any attack , let us clothe ourselves with the whole armour of God, read Ephesians 6 v10 -18, as part of your preparation.[Dear God strengthen us this day against that which would harm us ,help us to be on our guard,in Jesus name Amen ]

Love one another. [1 John 3 v11-23 ]

I well remember all those years ago, when I was about to go to bible college a dear friend give me two things ,books, and a bike, the bike is long gone, but I still have the books. It was an act of kindness which I will always remember, till my dying day, Ive had many acts of kindness shown to me, by so many Christians. There are none so kind and thoughtful as the children of God, Christians are not perfect,but they can be kind and generous, and I thank God for them, I speak from a lifetime of experience. It is so easy to become critical of our fellow Christians, but today, stop and thank God for them, and as you have an opportunity show a kindness to them, do it out of love not duty. Our dear Saviour taught us to love one another, even as He loves us, He commands us to love one another,[John 15 v12/17 ], how did He love us, by dying for us, forgiving us, He continues to love us daily,in so many ways, let us follow His example. [Dear Lord Jesus we thank You for loving us in a million ways,help us to walk in Your footsteps, and to love others especially our fellow Christians. Amen ]

Something greater [ Ephesians 2 v 8-9 ]

Grace ,as we look at certain people, we may despair,but then we are reminded of the Grace of God,and that by that Grace they can be changed, they can be saved,let us remind ourselves that we should never put limits on Gods Grace.No matter how far a person sinks, the Grace of God is able to save ,when they call on Christ, In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul reminds those he is writing to of their former state, he goes through a list of sinful practices,/sexual sins, idol worship, adultery, male prostitution,homosexuality, thieving, greediness, drunkenness, abusiveness,and cheating. As we read that list, we are reminded of the Grace of God, that is trully amazing, so today if you are lost in sin, there is hope for even you.As we look at humanity, mybe our workmates, neighours, friends, family, or whoever, dont despair, pray for them, that they may experience the Grace of God, let us remember that were sin abounds , the Grace of God is greater.[Father help us to never despair at mans lostness, rebelliousness, help to look beyond these things to You the God of all Grace, in Jesus name Amen ]

Doing what comes unnaturally.[Galations 5 v 16-26 ]

It is in Galations we have two aspects of the Christian life, the natural and the spiritual, [5 v16-26 ]what we are being told is we have a choice each ongoing day, to live in the Spirit or to live according to our sinful nature. The natural will manifest all that is opposed to the spiritual, , we have a choice today, whats it going to be?. Being a Christian never takes away human responsibility, everyday we have to make discisions, we dont ask our wives to dress us,we are expected to get up out of bed,and go to work, these are choices we have to make each day, so it is in the spiritual we have to make decisions, to be filled with the Spirit, to seek His leading,and to resist wrong, and choose to do the right,if we make the right decisions the Holy Spirit will help us, by guiding and strengthening us, so today what is our choice going to be?. [Dear God and Father in the name of Jesus help us today in all we our faced with, to make the right decisions, fill us with Your Spirit . Amen ]

Who will minister to the few? [ Matthew 25 v14 -30 ]

What preachers want is people ,to minister the word of God to, and as many people as possible.Since being a minister ,I have had the privllege of ministering to a small church,people have said to me that, I am wasted doing this as my ministry could be a blessing to the many as opposed to the few.Many years ago I sought to be a missionary, I did all the right things, went to bible college, applied to missions, but the way was closed to me, so I ended up in a small church in England. I have at times sought other openings, but the doors have remained shut.In the end I have come to realize, that I am were God wants me,even if it is a small church.God may yet call me to a larger church that is in His hands, He shall choose my way,I dare not choose, for I know His way is best. [ Dear Lord Jesus we thank you that You know whats best for us,be in the jungles of the Amazon, or in a small church, or wherever,we know that Your will is always best Amen ]

A sure and certain hope.[ 1 John 5 v 13 /John 3 v 16 ]

It was the sixtenth century French philosopher Francois Rabelais who wrote about after death as , /The great perhaps/, in philosophy we have but mens vain attempt to understand humanity, with little or no idea as to after death.In Gods word we have all we need to understand humanity, and the after life, of course the word of God is not mans ideas, but Gods. The word of God is a divine revelation, it tells us of our origin, God created us,it reveals unto us our condition, we are sinners, and it clearly reveals to us a way of salvation.When it comes to death the word of God tells us clearly that there is a Heaven and a Hell, and the only way we can escape Hell and go to Heaven, is by trusting Jesus to be our Saviour, and if we do, then are sins are forgiven, and we recieve eternal life, unlike the ramblings of the philosophers , we have a sure and certan hope .[ Dear God we thank You ,that in a life were many things appear uncertain, You have revealed to us in Your word that which is sure and certain, as to this life and the life beyond,Amen ]

When nothing is happening[ 1 Kings 19 v 1-18 ]

There are times when nothing appears to be happening, as I look at the church situation, nothing appears to be happening, then there are situations , things we pray about continually, and nothing appears to be happening.The invisible God really appears invisible, just silence, followed by silence. In this situation we can become like Thomas, who declared ,/unless I see, [ John 20 v25 ],I wont believe, I wont keep praying, I wont follow, I want to see answers, results,something, happening. I think of our Saviours words to Philip, / Have I been with you all this time[ John 14v 9 ],we are like Philip, we forget the things that have happened in our lives, we start leaning on our own understanding, we fall into the trap of living by sight, instead of by faith, and so we become discouraged, impatient, and loose sight of the fact that God is working His purposes out in our lives in the best possible way. Let us remember that God is working, when it appears He is not, let us not judge the Lord by our feeble senses, in His time He will reveal His purpose,so trust Him .[ Almighty God have mercy upon us, and grant us the grace we need , to trust You, when things dont appear to be happening, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

Answers to prayer [ Matthew 26 v 39 ]

Last Friday evening I suddenly developed a sore tummy, after trying various things I got no relief, so I cried unto the Lord, and as I did the pain eased , and I was able to go to bed and sleep. Praying for healing is a difficult area , I believe God hears and answers our prayers ,I have proved this so many times, and yet we know that at times,things dont appear to happen, a person we prayed for dies,situations do not appear to be resolved, doors have stayed closed. Prayer is a learning experience, in that experience God is teaching us valuable lessons, in the exercise of prayer, it is what God is doing in us that is important. Keep praying dont despair if things dont appear to be happening, God is listening,and will answer in the best possible way, let us remember God knows best, and whats best for all of us. [ Dear God we thank you for the privllege of prayer, You hear our cry, at all times, and always answer in the best way , in Jesus name.Amen. [I am going away for a short break I will be back Sat]

Unexpected faith.[ Luke 4 v 14 - 30 ]

It is Philip Yancey who writes of ,/ Faith appearing where least expected, and faltering where it should be thriving/, we see this throughout the bible, the religious esablishment often failed miserably to manifest faith, while the poor exercised tremendous faith, in fact the Bible tells us that God has chosen the poor who are rich in faith [James 2 v5 ]. Are the poor at greater advantage than those who are not poor?, I do not think so,and yet mybe they are ,in that they usually have no option other than God, they have no resources other than God, so in their need they look to God in faith,their minds are focused on Him, they know no one else can help them, so in the name of Jesus they pray, and God answers.While this is so , God is no respector of persons,it is not their poverty that qualifies them ,but their faith, so today let faith arise, let faith ask, let faith act. [Father in heaven You have saved us by grace through faith, and You have called us to live by faith, grant us the ungoing grace to fufill this, in Jesus name , Amen ]

Take up your cross. [ John 21 v 15 -23 ]

To be true to Jesus is not easy, and of course He never said it would be, I love the honesty of Jesus, it was Winston Churchill that told the people of Britian, in their darkest hour, that he had nothing to offer but,/blood, toil, tears and sweat/. Jesus says follow me, and that will mean taking up a cross, it will mean denying oneself , it will mean walking the narrow way.It will mean going on when it appears easier to give up, it will being faithful in situations in which you want to run away from,it will mean choosing Gods way instead of your own,it may mean, blood, sweat and tears, and having no one to wipe your tears. Am I exaggerating?. Whatever path we are having to travel in following our Master, remember He is with us, He will not forsake us,come what may,He will help us, and even fill us, with peace and joy, but most of all a sense of His presence, in the words of Ira Stanphill,/be faithful , weary pilgrim, The morning I can see, Just lift your cross and follow close to me.[ Dear Lord Jesus sometime we struggle as we follow You, sometimes we feel frustrated, and discouraged, today we ask that You will help us to be faithful to You, pour in Your grace into our lives, Amen ]

Trustworthy. [ Matthew 25 v14 -30 ]

Trust is one of the most important things in life, when trust is gone, then the relationship is in trouble. In marriage trust is vital,if you break that trust ,the marriage may not survive, it is possible it can ,and some marriages do.The question is ,am I a trustworthy person?,we like to think so, am I trustworthy with money?, if God has entrusted us with whatever, then He has done this for a purpose.Consider the person of Christ , He was intrusted with the salvation of mankind, and He proved totally trustworthy, if we are not saved , we can call on Him to save us, and He will prove true to His word, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. One can trust Jesus not only with ones life but with ones eternal destiny.Today let us be like Jesus , let us be trustworthy, in all aspects of our lives, in the unexpected, or in the ordinary course of life. [Father we thank You , that You are trustworthy in all things, help us to be like You, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

Dont forget [ Philippians 4 v6-7 ]

In our busyness we are inclined to forget to pray, an old hymn had these words,/ ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?/prayer should not be a legalistic thing, it is a vital aspect in our relationship with our loving heavenly Father. God wants us to know a close personal relationship with Him, it is for our benifite, and prayer is important in the development of this. So today pray ,it will make a difference in your life, if you have a need then pray about it, ask and you shall recieve,if you are facing difficulties, pray about it, there is nothing to difficult for the Lord, He says call upon me in the day of trouble,I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.[ Psalm 50 v15 ] So today , dont forget to pray. [ Dear Lord help us to pray, help us to see how important it is to spend time in prayer, grant us the grace we need to pray we ask this in Jesus name ,Amen ]

Look up. [ Psalm 121 ]

Many people when they are walking look down, there may be advantages in looking down, one may find the odd coin, the most I have found was twenty pounds, and of course when you look down, you wont trip up. Looking down may often reflect how we feel, it indeed may reflect that we are feeling down, that we are oppressed, it is called body language. In Psalm 121 we read, / I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills [Mountains],/ it does not stop there, if we stop at the hills or mountains, we will be overwhelmed, the mountains in our lives can cause us to despair, look beyond your mountain of despair, to your God in heaven,remember our help comes from the Lord . So today, right now ,look up to the one who is able, and willing to come to your aid, stop letting the enemy oppress you, and start believing in the one who said,/ Look unto me , and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. [Isaiah 45v 22 ][ Almighty God help us today to look up, beyond all our difficultes,beyond all our problems, and trust you to undertake for us, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen ]

Healing. [ Psalm 147 ]

It is surprising where one can find inspiration from, I was watching a dvd of Poirot the Belgium detective, and it ended by him saying, / There is nothing so damaged that it cannot be repaired by the hand of God/. There are so many damaged people in this world, so many suffering from hurts, from childhood,broken relationships,we all carry a few bruises from being hurt. I love those words from Psalm 147 v3, which read ,/He [God] heals the brokenhearted/,it is the hurts of the heart that are so hard to deal with, for often we keep them hidden, and we dwell on them, and we carry them with us wherever we go. The Lord who looks on the heart knows everything, not only knows, but He can with His healing power touch us ,and heal us, in Exodus 15v26 , we read,/ For I am the Lord who heals you/. [Dear God we bring ourselves to You with all our hurts , and we ask that You would heal us, of those hurts that we carry with us, we ask this in Jesus name . Amen ]

The Sovereign Spirit [ John 3 v 8 ]

There is an old hymn which reads,/ I know not how the Spirit moves/, which means we cannot control Him, or manipulate Him, no He is sovereign. In John 16 v8, our Saviour said the Spirit would , convict the world of sin. and of Gods righteousness, and a fear of coming judgement. As we look at this world there is such a lack of conviction, people are so oblivious to God,is there hope?, the answer is, I do not know. What I do know is that the Holy Spirit is sovereign , unless He moves nothing is going to work, , and at this time it appears that He has choosen not to work. Being Sovereign he will choose as to how and were He will work,in all this we are reminded,that we cannot dictate, to Him, but we can plead with Him, in Jude v 20, we are told to pray in the Holy Spirit, this is something we all can do, and need to do, if we are going to see the Sovereign Spirit , moving, in peoples lives, and bringing them to a saving faith in Christ. [ Sovereign Spirit we ask that You would begin to work in the lives of our loved ones, our work colleagues, our neighbours, come Holy Spirit, save precious souls, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Be a finisher [2 Timothy 11 v 21- 33]

My young daughter in law has just finished university, a tremendous achievement. I remember when I was at Bible college, the principal said he would understand if I had to give up,my wife and I were living by faith, my wife was not to well, things were difficult, what he said was well intentioned, but we didnt give up , I completed my course, and then my wife went on to complete a course in another Bible college, I look back with gratitude that we both finished our training.Finishing is so important in life, especially the Christian life, in 2 Timothy 4 v 6-8, the apostle Paul wrote,/I have fought a good fight,I have finished the race,and I have remained faithful/. When you read the difficulties Paul had to face[ cp- 2 Corinthians 11v 21 -33 ], you could not have blamed him for giving up, but he didnt. There will always be reasons to give up or to give into sin, but there are greater more compelling reasons why we should not.Here are some, the love we have experienced in Jesus, His friendship, others,and lastly the prize, there are more,today, think on them , and seek by the grace of God to be a finisher.[ Father help us to be a finisher, help us not to give up ,or to give in, to anything or anyone thats stands between us and the finishing posts, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

Put into practice. [ Matthew 7 v 24 - 27]

Proverbs 3 v5-6 have played a big part in my life, the av version is my favourite,here is how these verses read,/ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths/. These are words we need to memorize, and continually put into practice. Oswald Chambers, wrote/Dont calculate without God/, today let us take these words to heart, I cannot stress enough the importance of obeying these words from Proverbs. There is security and safety in these words, we will never go wrong ,if we put them into action day by day.Let us remember it is not just enough to hear the word of God, we must, I stress, vital that we put it into action. [Dear Lord Jesus help us to put into practice what You tell us, help us to see how vital this is to our well being, Amen ]

Stay connected [ John 15 ]

In Matthew 26v58 we read that Peter followed Jesus at a distance, the next thing we read is Peter denying Jesus, he did it three times. Following Jesus at a distance, I know a number of people who are doing this, some are angry,some are disobedient, there are many reasons.When one is following Jesus at a distance, one becomes disconnected to Jesus ,instead of walking in sweet fellowship with Christ, they are neither hot or cold, not one thing or the other.Being disconnected led to Peter ,nearly severing relationships with Jesus entirely, thankfully the Lord who is gracious and forgiving, restored him to that place of fellowship again.It was William Cowper who wrote, / Where is the blessedness I knew when I first saw the Lord?. Where is that soul refreshing view of Jesus and His word?/, this is what happens when one becomes disconnected with Your Lord. [ Dear Lord Jesus Help us to stay connected to You, help us not to follow You at a distance, Amen ]

Amazing Grace.[ Ephesians 2 v 1-10 ]

If I was cast away on a desert island , and had the choice of ten records, my first choice would be Amazing Grace,I love this song. It is continually being recorded and just wont go away. It seems to me that God is continually reminding people of His grace, to save , to keep, and to complete His purpose in lives that are broken, and messed up. Recently I have been confronted with broken people , and of couse I work among broken people, the mentally ill, I just pray that they would experience the Grace of God in their lives,I know from experience that the Grace of God can change and transform them, when they open their lives and trust Jesus as Saviour. [Dear God we thank You for Your amazing grace that we can know through Your dear son Jesus, we thank You that lives can be wonderfully changed, and transformed through this grace Amen ]

Needs [Philippians 4 v19 ]

The world is full of needy people, in fact if one thinks about it, everyone is needy, there are those who dont feel they have a need,but have, then there are those who know they have a need , but will not admit it, then there are those who will admit their need. I remember many years ago attending a church service, I was away from the Lord at the time,and as the preacher spoke , one thing bore in upon me was my need. I dont remember what the preacher said, all I remember was , my need, and that night God met my need, as I afresh surrendered to Jesus.that was 45 years ago. In those 45 years I have had many needs supplied , I have found my Lord faithful , whatever your need , look to Jesus. [ Dear Lord Jesus thank You for meeting the deepest need of our hearts , in Yourself, today we lift our eyes to You ,with confidence, in You ,to meet our needs Amen ]

Changing me [ 1 Peter 1 v 6- 7 ]

Yesterday I spoke to a young lady, she shared with me the difficulties she was experiencing in her marriage, they were not immoral difficulties, but she was desperately looking for advice and help. What I did was listen and assure her of my prayers, my heart went out to her, from long experience I did not try to give any quick -fix answers. In my life I have met many well meaning Christians, who have done more harm than good in the area of helping others, I have listened to the all knowing Christian T V celebrities,read their books, and in the end , the problems has not been resolved. I am not saying problems cannot be resolved, but often they remain with us, and in them, God does a work in our lives, He creates Christian character, and that is more important than the healing we desire, or the resolving of that on going problem. It is Marilyn Baker, she is blind, who wrote,/ Jesus You are changing me,by Your Spirit You,re making me like You. Jesus You,re transforming me, that Your loveliness may be seen in all I do. You are the potter, I am the clay,help me to be willing to let You have You way/.[ Dear God grant unto us the grace of perseverance, the grace to hold on, and the grace to accept Your will for our lives in Jesus name Amen ]

Daily refreshing [Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31 ]

We have a garden, which means we have to water each day the plants we have put in, except when it rains. We are a bit like those plants each day we need to be refeshed spiritually, yesterdays blessings will not suffice for today, we cannot run on an empty tank. When the Israelites were in the wilderness , God sent manna each day to feed them, they could not store it ,except on the friday. Today we need to seek that daily refreshment from God ,by waiting in His presence, in prayer, and reading His word, in doing this we are acknowledging our dependance on Him. As our days so shall our strength be, one day at a time, we may not realise it ,but when we seek the Lord daily, we receive from God grace for each day, so today let us wait upon the Lord, pour out our hearts to Him, the result will be ,that refreshing we stand in need of. [ Dear God we ask that You would help us each day to spend time with You, and as we do , we ask that you would refresh us , we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]