Birthdays ( John 3 v 1ff)

 One  of the tasks allotted is to me send birthday cards off to our Children and grandchildren,we have a lot of grandchildren and great grandchilren.Every Christian has two birthdays,a natural birthday and a spiritual birthday. Our dear Saviour said that we must be born again if we are to become citizens of God's kingdom.When we are born naturally we are spititually dead, everyone of us,when sin entered the world the spiritual umbilical cord binding us to God was cut,which means we are no longer connected to God. We cannot have a relationship with Him, it is not that He does not love us,it means that we do not love Him,we cannot commune with him.This means we are in great danger,we can so  easily be drawn into all sorts of wrong things ,wrong reilgions, and become slaves to sin,and there is only one place we are heading for ,that awful place called hell,for all eternity,there is no escape from that, a place of isolation,of utter lonliness and sorrow.But it need not be that way,God is merciful,loving and forgiving. Here is the way you can change all that ,by receiving Jesus as your Saviour (John 1 v 12),acknowledging you are a sinner,and when you do that ,you will be reconnected to God,and all the blessings that will bring.

The school of life ( Psalm 42 v 5)

 I have just read about a young lady  who was dyslexic,it was not until she was in  her teens was it diagnosed .So she had a rough time at school ,she was made to feel she was inadequate,with the result she felt low in esteem.But she did get a job and her boss encouraged her, and she began to look at her dyslexic in positive way,and it empowered in her life to be successful in her buisness which she had started.In the school of life we may find ourselves at the bottom of the heap,not much going for us,we may have been abused, have no friends,and so the list goes on,it's not cheerful reading. You may see yourself as one sitting on a dunghill,because of where your at,and what you have come through.You may be a Christian and feel very negative about yourself,let me remind you,there was time when you were a nobody,but when you trusted Christ you became a somebody,you became a child of God.There is a lovely verse in 1 Samuel 2 v 8 of what God does to those who are sitting on the dunghill,'He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes,and to make them inherit the throne of glory'.One person commenting on this verse writes,  'He  puts poor people on their feet again; he rekindles burned out lives with fresh hope,restoring dignity and respect to their lives,a place in the sun'.

Trust Him. ( Romans 11 v33)

In Deuteonomy29 v29 we read,'The secret things belong to the Lord our God,but the things revealed belong to us and to our children for ever,that we may follow all the words of this law'.There are two things emphasised,or what we do and we don't know'.Someone says that the Hebrew  is more striking it contrasts the 'covered' and the 'uncovered'.As Christians we know a lot of  things,God has revealed many things to us ,there was a time we went on in our darkened ways,until He revealed Himself to us.Think of all the wonderful things we know, but what about the things we don't know?,all the why's in life, and what about the future.? Think upon these words 'the secret things belong to the Lord'1 Corinthians 13 v12 reads  'Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror,but  then we will see things with perfect clarity',and let us remember what our Saviour said to the disciples in Acts 1 v 7'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority'.  In John 13  v 7 Jesus says this to Peter, ' You don't  understand now what I am doing,but someday you will'.I leave Proverbs 3v5  with you,'Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and lean not on your own understanding.

Sin ( Proverbs 14 v9 )

I would like to share somthing from a book I have of Puritan Devotionals,the one I choosed was written by a man  called  Thomas Case,a very godly man,the subject  is sin.'Sin is always sinful, but in our prosperity we are not aware of it. The dust of the world fills our eyes that we cannot see it clearly.God  frequently  uses affiction to teach his children the great evil that is in sin.It shows sin as an evil in itself. It not only brings evil, but is evil. It not only works bitterness,it is bitterness. It has a bitter  root as well as bitter fruit. God  leads the sinner by affliction to take notice not only of what sin does,but what it is. It is a pure, unmixed evil.It has the devil for its author,and death for its end. Not only is it evil in itself, it is evil against God' I will just add the following, we must never take sin lightly,God does'nt ,look to Calvary to that old rugged cost,visualise what you see a blooded battered person hanging on that cross ,Jesus.On that cross Jesus died that we could be forgiven,that we would not suffer the wrath of God,if only we trust him to be our Saviour

Jesus is divine ( Psalm 110 v1)

My doorbell rang so I went to answer  it,and there on my doorstep was a young man,and he was a JW ,he was a pleasant young man,and so started a conversation.I often become get very frustrated in talking to JW's ,for no matter what I say,it all seems pointless,of course that's me talking,God only knows the effectiveness of ones witness, we have just to be faithful,and leave it to God.I told the young man I believe in Jesus Christ, he said he also believed,but I replied not the Jesus of the Bible.What dId I mean by that? I mean that Jesus is truly man and  truly God. Of course the JW's have there own translation ,we should not be surprised at that,their founder Charles Taze Russel,rejected the trinity.But that created a big problem for his followers,all the translations  clearly show that Christ was divine,that includes the whole bible.So what did the JW's do? ,they brought out there own translation,that fitted in with what they believe,it is as simple as that,they have a mutilated translation,and they blindly accept it.In Psalm 110 v1 a Psalm by David we read,'In Matthew 22 v41ff Jesus asked the Pharisees ,'What do you think about the Messiah? whose son is he?,They said the son of David,Jesus replied,How is it then that David ,speaking by the Spirit calls him Lord? quoating Ps110 v1 which reads ,'The Lord said to my Lord; sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet',,then Jesus went on to say,'If then David calls  him ''Lord,'' how can he be his son?.Yes the scripture clearly teaches that Jesus is divine.

Fellowship ( John 15 v 34-35)

Hebrews 10 v25 reads,'Not giving up meeting together,as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching'.These words tell us that there were those who were in the habit of not meeting with other believers.Isolating one's self from believers is detrimental to oneself and to fellow believers. One of the reasons given  for meeting together is that we can encourage one another.People stop meeting with believers for different reasons,someone has hurt them in the church,so they  withdraw nursing that hurt,not forgiving those who hurt them.When Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested and imprisioned by the Nazies,he said what he missed most was the fellowship of fellow believers.As Christians we need each other,we need their prayers,their encouragement,their friendship,and likewise they need ours.

                                                             'Blest be the tie that binds 

                                                             Our hearts in Christian love;

                                                             The fellowship of kindred minds

                                                              Is like to that above.

                                                              We share our mutual woes,

                                                               Our mutual burdens bear

                                                               And often for each other flows

                                                               The sympathising tear'             ( Words John Fawcett)

                                                             

                                                              

                                                                 

Use me. ( Ephesian 2 v10)3

We have  considered the following prayers,'Help me', 'Guide me', not let us consider ,'Use me'.There is hymn writtenby Elsie D.Yale I will leave that with you.

                                      ( 1)      'There's a work for Jesus,ready at your hand ,

                                                  'Tis a task the Master just for you has planned

                                                  Haste to do His bidding,yield Him service true;

                                                  There's a work for Jesus,none but you can do.

                                      (2)       There's a work for Jesus,humble though it be,

                                                   'Tis the very service,He would ask of thee.

                                                    Go where fields  are whitened,and the labourers few;

                                                    Ther's a work for Jesus none but you can do.