To God be the glory.[ Galations 6v 14]

When a football manager picks his team, he picks the strongest team, and in time he will let go those he considers his weakest players, if I was a manager thats what I would do. When God chooses He chooses those considered weak, those considered foolish,those who are despised,[1Corinthians 1v26-28], strange choice one may say,from a human point of view yes, but not from Gods point of view. Why does He do this? that He may recieve all the glory, and that those who are chosen will never boast, we are so quick to rob God of His glory.The old hymn puts it like this./ boasting excluded, pride I abase, Im only a sinner saved by grace/, there will be no boasting in heaven, only gratitude to an all loving and kind God, who choose us .[ Dear God we give You all the praise and honour, and glory for saving us through Your dear Son Jesus. Amen ]

Asking. [ Proverbs 9 v10-12 ]

That night God appeared to Solomon and said,What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you, [2 Chronicles 1v7] I wonder if God spoke those words to me what I would answer. First of all God is not a genie, many people thing He is a being who has to give us what we want, no, He does not. But if God said to you, what He said to Solomon ,what would you ask for?well Solomon didnt ask for weath or health, or power, he asked for something more important than those ,wisdom and understanding, and God granted his request.I do ask God for many things, our Saviour tells us to, Luke 11v9,there is nothing wrong with asking for different things, but more and more I see the importance of following Solomons example, of asking for wisdom and understanding. Life is very complicated, often we do not know what to do for the best, we have to deal with situations and circumstances that are often beyond us, the answer is very simple, ask God to grant unto us wisdom and understanding, in James1v5 we are told , God will grant them unto us.[ Dear God we thank You for all Your blessings , for the many answers to prayer, today we ask that You would grant unto us , the gifts of wisdom and understanding, in Jesus name. Amen]

That they may see.[ Luke 10 v29-37]

While in hospital a doctor and others came round to examine me, the doctor snatched my notes, from a colleague, he then went on to shake my hand ,an introduced himself to me, and then examined me. I dont remember his name or much of what he said, but I do remember his rudeness with his colleague. I wonder what people remember about us? I remember a pastor who used to say ,they are watching. I wonder what my colleagues in work will remember me for? what will my children remember me for?, and so we could go on, it is very challenging, our dear Saviour said,/that they may see[Matthew5v16. av]/. A holy life is a loving life, holiness has got a very bad press,think of the so called holy people of Islam,or of holy Joe,s everywhere, they are so often far from loving, and then think of our dear Saviour, what a contrast, He was never rude or unkind, He was and is everything we should be. [ Dear Saviour forgive us for our failings, and grant us the grace to trully reflect You in these lives of ours, to those who are watching us, and with all we have contact with .Amen]

My special friend.[ John 15v13 ]

Last night a friend visited me, we meet up once every two weeks for fellowship and a time of prayer, we discuss different issues. Friendship is very important in my life ,I have had a number of friends in my life, I value friendship, to me it is important. I have a very special friend He sticks closer than a brother, who encourages me, he tells us when I am wrong, He never leaves me, He guides me, provides for me, speaks to me, forgives me, chastises me, and in all this he there for me, and here is the most important thing He loves me unconditionally. Above all else He did something uttterly wonderful ,He died for me, I was lost in sin, going to a lost eternity, and this friend of mine ,was willing to lay down His life for me, I am proud to have such a friend, he will never do me any harm,, and when I die , I will fear no evil because He will be with me, and He will take me to heaven, His name is Jesus.Do you know this friend? if not why not simply ask , Him into your life, and when you do ,He will be your friend.[ Dear Lord Jesus we thank You that You offer Your friendship, to all, help us to open our lives and hearts to recieve You . Amen ]

Beyond the intellect[ Hebrews 11]

The Christian life is a life of faith, read Hebrews 11 ,there we have a list of heroes who had faith in God who is invisible. I noticed two letters in the Times from two ministers of religion, both appeared to be siding with Richard Dawkins the atheist. One of them was making a case for being moderate ,the other was making a case for evolution, both were challenging the fundamentalists. What is a fundamentalists?, I suppose it is someone who believes the Bible to be true,the Bible is the finished work, as opposed to science which is not. The Christian is one who has faith, in a God who made all things, who entered into time in the person of His Son, who was born of a virgin, I wonder do those two ministers believe that?. The key thing is belief/faith, we are not scientist,we are simply people who believe. Billy Graham the great evangelist, writes of his struggles with many unanswerable questions, as regards science and so on, but it came to a point when he prayed,/ Father I am going to accept Thy word, by faith. Im going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and believe in Your inspired Word/.[ Father in heaven we come to you with all our limitations,questions that appear to be unanswerable, and ask that we may have faith in You and Your word, in Jesus name. Amen ]

The unexpected [James 4v 13-17 ]

I suddenly found myself in hospital Monday evening and most of Tuesday, I had a problem with my gall-bladder, I am now home ,feeling a bit sore, hopefully on the road to recovery,it was my first time to be ommitted to hospital. In Proverbs 27v1 , we read,/ Dont brag about tomorrow since you dont know what the day will bring/,it is James in his epistle who expands on this, 4v13-17. James tells us, we should recognize the uncertainty of life,and we should humbly rely on God, we should say if the Lord wills , we will live and do this or that. If one is not saved then please take into account that life is uncertain, and trust the Saviour, remember there will be no second chances in eternity. If we know the Saviour let us live as if today was our last day, and if we were ushered into eternity, we will not be caught out, in some aspect of our Christian life.[ Dear God we confess that we fail to recognize the uncertainty of life, and fail to walk with a humble attitude towards You, forgive us and help us to bring You into all of our lives, in Jesus name. Amen ]

God moves in mysterious ways.

There are so many things we dont understand, and this often applies to the ways of God, we often wonder what is God doing?. Think of Job and even the apostle Paul ,they suffered so much. Take Job why did he have to suffer?, after all he was such a godly person, we can accept it when the wicked suffer, but when that loving wife,or husband suffer, we struggle to come to terms with it, and wonder why God allowes it to happen after all He has the power to stop it happening, this is one of the reasons that many struggle with a faith in God. To many it appears that such a God, is cruel, now there are no easy answers, from a personal point of view, I dont know all the whys,Job never recieved any answer, as to why he had to suffer, in the end , he bowed to the will of God, and stopped arguing.William Cowper who suffered from mental illness, wrote that magnificent hymn, /God moves in a mysterious way/, yes Gods ways are mysterious, so if you happen to be suffering ,or someone you love is suffering, and you are struggling,/ Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace/. [ Dear God we bow to your mysterious will for our lives,we ask for the grace we need, to cope with suffering wherever it may come. in Jesus name. Amen]

Mistakes.[ 1 Corinthians 13 v4-8]

Mistakes, we all make mistakes, I see this in relation to my blog, I usually do my blog each morning, before going to work, and I dont usually prepare, I just ask the Lord to give me something to write, so there will be mistakes, although I do my best to edit any mistakes out, so do make allowances. Let us broaden this out to life in general, we all make mistakes, none of us our perfect,our Saviour made that point so often, we make mistakes so we are to treat people as we would like to be treated, especially when they make mistakes. We often make the statement, no one is perfect, and its true, so today make allowances for others, and their mistakes, let us show the same attitude as our Saviour to shows us , when we make mistakes.[ Dear Saviour,we thank You for Your patience and understanding with us, when we make mistakes, help us to show the same patience and understanding with others, when they make mistakes, Amen]

We have the power.[ Ephesians 5 v18]

It is so easy to be sucked into things,and we end up doing things we really didnt want to, buying a car ,we simply allowed ourselves to be carried away, in that car showroom, when we saw all those lovely gleaming cars.It happens to us all to some extent, one of the things that should be in our lives is self control, it is one of the fruits of the Spirit [ Galations 5v22-23]. Many people say I cannot help it, in other words they are saying ,that they have no power in themselves to exercise control in a given thing, be it eating, buying or something else. In the case of a person who is not a Christian , thats true ,they have no power to say no, to those things that rule their lives, but as Christians, hear this, we have the power, we are not left to struggle on our own, we have the Holy Spirit, and by His power we can exercise self control, we need to stop relying on ourselves, and start depending on Him for the stength we require, to resist temptation, and to be more than conquerors through our Lord Jesus .[ Dear Heavenly Father we confess that in ourselves we are weak, weak to resist so much that is wrong, weak to resist those sudden impulses, so today fill us with Your Spirit, so that we can be overcomers in Jesus name . Amen ]

He touched me.[Matthew 8v1-4]

I was just thinking of the thought that is expressed in a number of Christian songs,of being touched by Jesus, words like,He touched me/, or only a touch from thine hand dear Lord. In the Gospels we read of Jesus touching different people, and when He did wonderful things happened. So often we pray for the Lord to touch us, and we experience a blessing,forgiveness, healing,and strengthening, the darkness lifts, the light breaks through, all this happens because Jesus touched us. Our Saviour is still in the business of touching people, and when He does , things will happen, let us remember Jesus is the same yesterday, today , and for ever, hath faith in Him. Call upon Him,in all your need, He hears the cry of the needy, the distressed, those who are cast down, and experience His touch , upon that life of yours.[ Dear Lord Jesus we come to You in all our need and ask that You would reach out to us , and touch us. Amen ]

The cross now the glory later [Romans 8v18]

Joseph is one of the lovliest characters in the Bible, his life falls into two parts, the first part involved suffering, the second part involved glory and blessing. Read his life in Genesis 37-50, you will recieve much benefit from a study of his life, he was hated by his brothers, to the point of them wanting to kill him, we place great value on our natural relationships but often we are disappointed . Although his brothers hated him Joseph showed tremendous love and forgiveness to them, he could have had them destroyed, but he didnt, Joseph looked beyond them to God, to a sovereign God, to His purpose for himself and his brothers.Pain, injustice, Joseph experienced all of that, but he also experienced the glory, today you may be experienceing pain ,mybe hurts from your nearest and dearest, ask God to keep you sweet, loving and forgiving, and remember after the cross comes the glory.[ Father in Heaven help us to not become bitter because of hurts caused by family or friends, help us to see thst all things are working together for our good, and that after the cross comes the glory, in Jesus name . Amen]

Frightened? [ Psalm 23 ]

Why are you frightened? Jesus asked His disciples[Luke 24v38],and here is the amazing thing , they were frightened of Him, they had no need to be frightened, but they were. Jesus surprised them, they had witnessed his death on the cross,and they thought that was the end of the story, but it wasnt. They could not take it in ,that death wasnt the end,so here was Jesus proving them wrong, by His very presence. I wonder is Jesus saying to us, why are you frightened?, consider how Jesus reassured them, He spoke to them, how important in the times when we are frightened, to hear Jesus, just as His words stilled the angry waves,[Mark 4v35-41], so let His words calm our fears. There are so many things that can cause us to feel frightened, but the answer to all of them is Jesus, the Psalmist wrote, I will fear no evil for Thou are with me,[ Psam23v4], it is His presence that keeps us safe,it is His presence that will enable us to overcome all our fears.[ Dear Saviour You know how we can be so easily frightened, today calm our fears,by a sense of Your presence, grant us grace to hear Your still small voice,in the midst of our storm. Amen ]

Holiness. [ Leviticus 20 v7]

How much do we desire to be holy?, I found myslf asking this question, I have prayed for so many things, legitimate things, for souls, for overcoming temptation, for the sick, for financial needs, but have I prayed to be holy?, oh yes I acknowledge that God is holy, but do I desire to be holy?. True holiness is a radical thing, for it trully reflects God, and there is nothing more radical than that. True holiness affects all our lives, it goes further than rule keeping, Jesus said ,/ unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the pharisees.[Matthew 5v20]. I believe God wants honesty from us ,and as I thought on holiness, I found myself praying I dont know that I want to be holy, for I realize that it will mean letting go of wrong thought patterns, let us remember sin gives pleasure, so am I willing to forsake that which gives me pleasure?.Am I willing to make holiness not pleasure my goal?. [Holy God have mercy upon us , and help us to rise to the challenge of holiness, help us to say yes to holiness, in Jesus name .Amen ]

He cares [ Psalm 37]

In Psalm 37v23, we read,/ The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives/[NLT] . Consider the first part of the verse the Lord directs, but it does not stop there it reads ,He directs the steps of the godly , the godly are His children all who have accepted Christ as Saviour,those He directs.Are you concerned over the future?, are there changes coming into your life, seek His will in all you do,and He will show you which path to take[Proverbs 3v6].The second part of the verse tells us that the Lord delights in every detail of His childrens lives, there are parts of our lives which we keep hidden from others, but nothing is hidden from our Lord.He delights in every part of His childrens lives, as a father I am concerned and delight in every aspect of my childrens lives, God does not despise His children, no He delights in all that concerns them, their health, finances,education,and so on, he desires whats best for them,He will correct them, will uphold them, and will bless them.[ Father in Heaven we give You thanks for Your constant and considerate care for all Your children ,in Jesus name .Amen ]

Thats why I came [ Ephesians 2 v1-5]

I got upset recently whan someone swore at me on the phone , and I become upset when I read some things in the paper, something like child abuse , and I prayed about these things, and the Lord said to me,/ thats why I came/. Many of us live comfortable lives , and while we may know the theology, that man is a sinner, it does not impact on our lives. So today if you are shocked by some news item , or someone does something horrible, let this be a timely reminder , that is why Jesus came, that is why He died a horrible death on a cross . Let it be a wake up call to all of us of why Jesus came, He came because every single one of us had sinned and come short of the glory of God. God did not turn away in disgust, no He moved in Love, by sending His dear Son, to rescue the perishing, and to care for the dying, and for us who have experienced this, He says, so send I you. [ Dear God you see , and know all things, humanity in all its awfulness, yet You stll love them, and seek to rescue them, through Your Son Jesus,we thank You for rescuing us,we ask that we may be willing to go forth and tell others of Your great love, in Jesus name. Amen ]

Christ died for the whosoever. [ John 3v 16]

Coming to know God through acceptance of Christ, is not a gender, racial, intellect, age,or class thing, it is a spiritual experience, which only takes into account humanities, deep need, of forgivness,and of Gods great love and desire, for all. Today as we look at people,ask God to help us to, overcome our intellect, prejudices or whatever, that stands as a barrier to God using us, to reach all who are lost. When Jonah was told to go to Nineveh, he ran away in the opposite direction, and even when God showed mercy, he was not happy.Our Saviour continually challenged the wrong conventions of His day[ John 4v9], so must we. It has been said that small children are colour blind, may the Lord help us , to be more like them,in our acceptance of all humanity, and grant us a willingness to tell them of Jesus , who died that they may be saved.[ Dear God we thank You for your indiscriminate love for all humanity,fill our hearts with that same love, and use us in the great task of reaching the lost, in Jesus name. Amen ]

Amazing ,simply amazing.[Ephesians 2 v1-10 ]

Our relationship with God is based on Grace, in others words we cannot merit any of Gods blessings, salvation is free,in Romans 6v23 we are told that the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. In Matthew 10v8 we read ,/freely you have recieved/, no wonder the hymn wrote about amazing grace, for it is , to think that simply by asking we recieve Christ as our Saviour,in some ways it appears to good to be true. When we recieve Christ as our Saviour, we recieve,total forgiveness from God, and total acceptance with God,the message puts it like this,/Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God,[Romams 11v33].If we are Christians, let us lift our voices and praise the Lord, for such love, if we are not Christians then why not pray to God in your need and recieve His greatest gift, Christ, all you have to do is ask.[Dear God we are trully amazed at Your generosity in offering us freely Jesus to be our Saviour we praise You. Amen ]

Victory[Galations 5v22-23]

Most of us are ruled by our feelings, there will be people today who will not get up out of bed because they dont feel like it. The fact of the matter is we usually have to go against our feelings, the job beckons and mybe we groan, and think we just dont feel like going to that place where we struggle,but we know we have to go . It is easy to be sucked into things by our feelings, like debt, like adultery, like drugs,rows ,fights, unforgiveness, our feelings take over, and we go with them.I believe we dont have to go along with our feelings,if we avail ourselves of what the Lord has put at our disposal. His word,prayer, and the power that worketh in us , the Holy Spirit,we can say no, we can exercise control, we can know victory over our feelings, we can be more than conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ.[Dear Lord help us today to not be controlled by our feelings,help us to be guided by Your Word, and controlled by Your Spirit. Amen]

Resist. [Ephesians 6 v10-17]

He whose word cannot be broken, so wrote John Newton ,reminding us that what God says He will do, what He promises He will fulfil.This is so important for us, for continually our minds our under attack, from the enemy of our souls, his tactics have not changed,he came to Eve with the words ,/Did God really say[ Genesis3v1]/, he sought to place doubt in her heart and mind, and in her case he succeeded,and unfortunately she acted on her doubts, the result, monumental sorrow and pain upon the whole of mankind. In Titus1v2 we read that God cannot lie, unlike the devil who is the father of lies,[John 8v44], the devil will always seek to undermine Gods word, using what ever means he can, for he hates God ,and His chidren.Today resist the devil by the very means he is trying to undermind, the word of God which cannot be broken, the result is, he will flee from us, and we will know victory[ James 4v7][ Dear God we thank You for Your word, which cannot be broken, help us to the resist the enemy of our souls, to declare firmly , thus saith the Lord, in Jesus name .Amen ]

Disobedience [ Romans 6v23]

As I was driving and trying to keep the speed limit, cars were driving by me breaking the speed limit, and I thought, peoople are naturally disobedient, for with out exception ,we all have broken the speed limit. The question of disobedience is manifest in all of life, no one can trully say they have never disobeyed, children have to be taught to obey, the teacher used to have a cane to enforce obedience.Obedience does not come naturally to humanity, and of course it all started in the historical setting of the garden of Eden, when God gave Adam and Eve a choice, to obey or not to obey, they choose to disobey. When it comes to disobeying God it has serious consequences, eternal consequences, for all of us,seperation from God in that place called hell. In Romans 5v19, we read,/ Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one person obeyed God many will be made righteous/. Because of Jesus perfect obedience, we who are naturally disobedience can be forgiven ,our disobedience, if we accept Him as our Saviour, it is amazing but it is true, the question is, will we obey and accept Christ?.[ Dear God help us to acknowledge our disobediece to You and Your laws, and help us to seek forgiveness through Jesus whose perfect obedience can save us . .Amen ]

A winner of souls. [ John 4v34-38]

Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my works in vain,Im tempted to murmur ,to grumble and complain, so goes an old gospel hymn. One witnesses , preaches, no one gets saved, and you think, is seeing people saved the hardest prayer to be answered?. I dont know, but I suppose it is the most important thing in life that people get saved, for Hell is as real as heaven, and yet they dont get saved. What is the answer?, to be faithful, and leave the rest to God,being faithful means praying, preaching the whole truth,witnessing by word and by our lives, and relying on God, to bless.We can look at the hardness of the people,caused by many things ,but we need to look above all else to our Saviour, He is able, yes He is, to save to the uttermost,if He saved me He can save anyone, so let faith arise, faith in Jesus ,to save precious souls.[ Dear Lord Jesus we dont know why people are not being saved, help us to be faithful, and may You be pleased to use us in some way to be a winner of souls. Amen]

Can God. [ Psalm78]

Imagine being removed from your job, you have obeyed Gods voice and stepped out in faith,bringing with you your wife and three children. You have no savings, and no money and no food in the house, and you have decided to not let anybody know about your situation, instead you are going to simply trust the Lord to meet your needs, trusting in His promises. In Psalm 78 the Israelites were in the wilderness, they had been delivered from slavery, they followed the Lord , but they were finding it hard, and they asked the question, / Can God/. Mybe that is the words on your lips ,can God,or mybe you are thinking it, can God help me,you look at your situation, and you despair, let me encourage you today to believe God , who can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think,[Ephesians3v20], and let me just close by saying the Lord met the needs of that man , his wife, and three children.[ Father in heaven help us to trust You ,to help us in every situation, no matter how difficult it is, in Jesus name .Amen]

Summer and winter.[ 1 Peter 1v6-7]

In Psalm 74v17 we read ,/You made both summer and winter/,I suppose these words remind me once again of that great truth, the sovereignty of God.The sovereignty of God is something we need to be reminded of continually,here we have a statement reminding us that a sovereign God made the summer and winter.Most of us do not like the winter ,thats why so many go to live in Spain, but for the rest of us we have to put up with the dark nights,why cant we have sunshine all the year around?, why indeed. The fact of the matter is life is not all sunshine, it has its winter seasons,which God has ordained,the winter of sickness, bereavement,broken relationships, depression ,financial difficulties.Much and all , as we would like sunshine all the times, God knows best, as someone said all sunshine makes a desert. Willim Barclay wrote this,/ The danger of prosperity is that it encourages a false independance. It makes us think that we are well able to handle life alone/. As I look back on life , I learned so much in my winter seasons, which I would not have learnt in the summer seasons,I learnt to trust God for grace,learnt to trust His promises, and experenced a closer relationship with Him. [Sovereign God ,it is easy to thank You for the summer seasons of our lives,but today we bow our hearts before You, and praise You for the winter seasons, in Jesus name . Amen ]

Need [ Matthew4v 1-11]

The scriptures tell us that God will supply our needs[ Philippians 4v19],but sometimes what we think we need, and what God thinks we need our different. In Deuteronomy 8, we read how God humbled the Israelites causing them to hunger, why would God do such a thing?, the answer was in order to teach them a valuable lesson, that man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.The cry of this world is I want ,but if we are Christians, we are under our Lord and master Jesus,rule, and He wants to teach us whats really important, in order to do this He does not give us what we think we need but what He knows we need. He will deny us what appears legitimate,sex, money, promotion,and so on, in order that our desires becomes His,and that our lives come into comformity with His. If today He is denying us something, let us not resist, let us not become rebellious,or complain,let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and let us learn the lesson He wants to teach us, He will not let us move on until we do.[ Dear God we thank You that You know what it is, we really need in our lives help us to yield to Your perfect will , in order that we might become more like Jesus . Amen ]

Hurry [Psalm 40]

We have a mug and it has these words on it, /Grant me patience Lord, but hurry/,without exception we all need to exercise patience. One of Gods characteristics is patience,and He would have all, His children to show the same quality in their lives. What lessons did Abraham, Joseph, and Job, have to learn ?, patience, what do you and I need to learn ? patience. When we exercise a godly patience, we are growing, and we all need to grow in godliness. We need to show patience to those we come in contact, that person who is rude, to fellow mortorist, to our children, our husbands and wives, the list is endless. We need to show patience in relation to Gods purposes for our lives, though it tarry wait for it, was the word of God to the prophet Habakkuk [2v3]. We must learn to wait patiently for the greatest event of all, our Lords coming again. Often God will act quickly and answer our prayers, but often He would have us wait patiently, for the answer, remember delay is not denial, it is just Gods way of teaching us patience.[ Dear God grant me the grace to be more like You in exercising patience, with others, with myself,in Jesus name Amen ]

Dare [Hebrews 11v8]

When God puts a vision on ones heart, it is our vision, and to that one must stay faithful , others may not understand, they are not meant to,when the apostle Paul felt led to go to Jerusalem people begged him not to go[ Acts 21v12]. When our Saviour told His disciples he was going to Jerusalem and that He would suffer and die, Peter rebuked Him, [Matthew 16v21-23].The vision God gives you is yours alone, and to that vision one must stay true, irrespective of others.I have felt the call of God upon my life to preach, to that call I must stay true, irrespective of others, and their have been others, who have discouraged and criticized me, such is the way of the cross. The most important thing in the Christian life is the will of God, we must stay true to it, it is the taking up, ones cross and following our Saviour. the old hymn says,/ Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, Dare to make it known./, so let us dare.[ Dear God and Father keep us faithful to Thy will in all things in Jesus name. Amen ]

Promising God. [ Ecclesiastes 5v4-5 ]

A woman was walking along the sea shore,with her little boy when a hugh wave went over them,and the little boy was carried out to sea, the lady prayed, that if God would give her back her child she would be ever grateful and thankful, suddenly another hugh wave came and deposited her son at her feet, as she looked at her child she spoke to God, he had a hat. In Psalm 66v13-14, we read,/ I will perform my vows to you, that which my lips uttered, and my mouth promised when I was in trouble/. Many people make vows when they are in difficulty, but when the trouble is past, they fail to keep them. A farmer went to his wife to tell her that their cow had given birth to two calves, one white the other brown, he was so happy he said to his wife,I am going to dedicate one of these calves to the Lord, his wife asked, which one?he replied there was no need to bother about that now.A few months later he came to his wife and said ,the Lords calf had died, his wife reminded him that he hadnt chosen which calf was the Lords,he replied that it was the white one, and that was the one that died.[ Father often we make promises to you in our difficulties, and even in our times of prosperity, and we fail to keep them, forgive us ,and help us to be more faithful in the future in Jesus name .Amen]

The first time [ John 3 v7-8]

Yesterday my son John preached for the first time,I wonder can you remember those first times in your life when you did something,I remember the first girl I kissed, I remember my first plane trip,my first job,my first home when I got married, my first time in England. I also remember when I first trusted Jesus as my Saviour , it was at a childrens meeting, the speaker was known as the Hallelujah milk man , I dont how he got that name ,but I do remember what he spoke on,I dont remember how old I was, between five and ten, that is over fifty five years ago.That was the most important first time experience of my life, because it sealed my eternal destiny, it gave me an awareness of Christ ,that never left me, even though at times I wandered away from Him, I thank God for that first time.[Dear God help us all to realize that their must be a first time to trust your son Jesus as our Saviour. Amen]

Benefits.[Romans 5 v1-5]

The Christian life is two sided, in Romans 5v 1-5, we are told two things, firstly the blessings we have been brought into through faith , we have been justified, which means we are no longer guilty before a holy God, we have peace with God , we are no longer His enemy, the battle is over, God is now our loving Heavenly Father, this has all come about through the Lord Jesus, when He died on the cross. We can look forward to eternal glory, so today let us rejoice, and praise God, He has done great things for us.But now the other side of the coin, the Christian life also involves sufferiing,our Saviour said in the world we shall have tribulation[ John 16v33], Ann Bronte, said,/ Believe not those who say, the upward path is smooth/. In Romans 5, we are told that those troubles we encounter , are Gods instruments in developing Christian character, strength of character,so today let us rejoice for what God is doing in our lives through, our troubles. [ Dear God we praise You for Jesus Your Son who has saved us, and brought us into eternal blessings, we also would ask that You would help us to keep rejoicing in all our sufferings, because You are causing all things to work together for our good. Amen ]

A person of strength[ Psalm 46 ]

I was given a poem about a woman of strength, I dont know who wrote it, I want to quote it, but I want to broaden it out to include , men and women./ A strong person works out everyday to keep their bodies in shape. But a person of strength kneels in prayer to keep their souls in shape. A strong person isn,t afraid of anything. But a person of strength shows their courage in the midst of fear. A strong person won,t let anyone get the better of them. But a person of strength gives the best of themselves to everyone. A strong person walks sure-footedly. But a person of strength knows God will catch them when they fall. A strong person wears a look of confidence on their face. But a person of strength wears grace. A strong person has faith that they will be strong for the journey. But a person of strength has faith that in the journey they will become strong./[ Dear God help us to not live in our own strength, but daily, moment by moment to rely on You in Jesus name. Amen ]