A promise box ( 2 Peter 1 v 4)

I was going through a drawer and I found a promise box,I must have it about 50 years, some people are critical of them.There was a time when finances were low or non exsistented ,and we were looking for guidance as to what we should do.I would  go to that little box and pull out a promise praying that God would speak into our situation.I can't remember any particular promise I got. But I had a daily devotional which I still read called ,'Daily Light', it is just full of scripture,and I found it very helpful,God  often did  speak to me from it. I  looked through the promise box,and read one,and it took me back years ago when I heard a missionary who had just come home from Nigeria.He told that during the civil war he was  very concerned for his safety,he had a headace and he felt that he should take some tablets,but then God spoke ,it was that  promise I got from my promise box,it read,' The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them'  (Psalm 34 v7) He felt a peace, he didn't take the tablets ,he lay down and slept'

No compromise. ( Luke 4 v18 -20)

 In Matthew 12 v30 and Luke 11 v23,Our dear Saviour said,' Whoever is not with me is against me',Jesus is telling us that there is no middle ground one cannot have a foot in one camp,and a foot in another camp.Jesus demands total allegiance there is no common ground,no grey areas.We must make  that very clear to  everyone,consider what said Jesus ,'I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through  me'.John 14 v6. It is not a matter of intolerance,we have to show a degree of tolerance toward others,of other cultures,and religions, but we will never compromise on the  truth that Jesus is the only one that can save sinners.We will see all other religions  as false,for they worship other god's who are not god's.We must learn to live with each other help people were they need help,and love them.We cannot march under the same banner as non Christians,and we should always try to win them to Christ,in a loving way, no one should be forced to become a Christian.We must be sold out to Christ alone ,not Christ plus.

Wrong thoughts ( Genesis 39 v 11)

I'm sure that everyone has wrongs thoughts,so what does one do when one has wrong thoughts?.I believe the first thing we should do is to pray.Acknowledge them to God be honest,one cannot hide them from Him. Often we put ourselves in danger by what we look at, for Eve it was the forbidden fruit Genesis 3 v 6, Achan it was the forbidden plunder, Joshua 7 v 21,David it was the forbidden women 2 Samuel 11 v 2.Each of these people had a choice ,they all knew that it was wrong, the wrong thoughts took over, and instead of praying for victory,they ran full pelt into  sinful actions and yielded to temptation.We must run away from our sinful impulses, don't linger over them,don't try and rationalise the wrong actions we may take.Horatio R. Palmer wrote a well known hymn,the first line goes , 'Yield not to temptation,for yielding is sin',take those words to heart.

                                                         'Ask the Saviour to help you,

                                                          Comfort ,strengthen,and keep you;

                                                           He is willing to aid you,

                                                            He will carry you through.'

Keep focused ( Acts 15 v 36-41)

In sport one of the most important things you must do is keep focused,don'take your eye of the ball.This is also one of the most important things you must do when you become a Christian ,keep focused on Jesus.I remember a number of years ago going to a show in London,it was a musical.During the performance a lady near me,made all sorts of  distracting noises,but I just kept focused on the show.I know a number of people who don't attend a Christian fellowship anymore,The reason usually is someone has hurt them ,and it makes me very sad,I do pray for them,nor do I judge them.Meeting with fellow believers is very important in Hebrews 10 v 25 we read,'Not giving up meeting together, as some are in habit of doing,but encouraging one another'. I know from my own experience one can be hurt by fellow Christians,I have been hurt ,very hurt, but I have to have a forgiving spirit,but to add to that I must keep my eyes on Jesus. Look at the many people who hurt Jesus even before the cross,even his own disciples,but He kept focused on doing the Fathers will. 

                                                          

                                                    'Remember we are not following people

                                                     we are following Jesus'

False God's (Matthew 5)

It is said that someone gave Stalin a copy of Machiavellions book 'The Prince' it was written for people who rule as to how to rule. One of main things it highlights,that they must rule 'for the greater good '.Stalin was one of the most evil people one could find.He appeared to take pleasure in  inflicting terrible suffering on millions of people.His sole aim was to establish communism his followers had the same aim.One man has called communisn a false God.There have been many false God's in this world,Naziism, false religions in which there are many. Where such false gods are followed  their followers committ terrible evils.What about Christianity,the evil's that have been perpetrated by so called followers of Christ,the fact is that many so called followers of Christ have misrepresented Christianity,to torture people,slaughter people is totally wrong.The challenge for those who claim to know Jesus as their Saviour,should be a true reflection of whom Christ is.

Saved . (Jude 24)

 Someone has said as regards salvationt there are three aspects of  it,' We were saved; we re being saved;and we will be saved'. We look back an remember there was a moment in time,when we trusted Jesus to be our Saviour. Adgar M.Pace,wrote a song,here is one of the verses,'I can tell you the time,I can take you to the place,When the Lord saved me by His wonderful grace,'Paul the apostle could point you to the place were Christ saved him,read about it in Acts 9,it was so dramatic,he would never forget .We are all saved in the different places,the place is not imporant,what is  important that you have trusted Jesus to forgive your  sins and to be your Saviour. Next we are being saved,what does that mean?  well on our journey to glory the Christian life brings may challenges,we will face many temptations and difficulties our responsability is to press on,not to gave up,sometimes we feel like that,don't despair we are told ,we are kept by the of God unto salvation ( 1 Peter v5 NKJV) Jesus said,' I gave them eternal life,and they shall never perish;nbut rememo on will snatch them out of my hand  (John10 v28). Last but not least,we will be saved, yes we will be saved by God's grace.

Mother's Heart. ( Ephesians 2 v 10)

In many countries Christians hospitals, schools,orphanages and a mulitude of other organisations are doing so much good in this world.Let me tell you about one other called'Mother's heart',it is in Cambodian it was founded by an Australian aid worker called Katrina Gliddon.Young women find themselves pregnant and have no support whatsoever,some have been abused.Many of those dear girls are very young and poor.Mother's Heart is led by a team of Cambodians.This is what they say'We exsist to be the hands and feet of Jesus; to love without condition,stand without judgement,and walk alongside women and girls facing one of the most  vulnerable moments of their lives'Im sure we all need to take to heart this ministry and the challenge it brings to all of us'

                                                    'If I can help somebody as I pass along,

                                                     If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

                                                     If  I can show somebody that he's travelling wrong,

                                                     Them my living shall not be in  vain'

                                                                 Words by Alma Hazel Androzzo.

                                           .

The sainthood of every believer ( Jude 3/14)

Deuteronomy 7v 6  reads ' For you are a people holy to the Lord your God', these words were spoken to  Israel by Moses.Raymond Brown points out,'They are not urged to become holy,they are already holy....Israel's holiness is an act of God,not an act of man (They must be what they are)Likewise  Christian sanctification begins not with what we do but with what God has done'.In the New Testament the name for Christians is saints,theAV uses the word saint a lot  'Romans 1 v7,the NIV uses the words God's holy people,'Philippians 1 v 1.'this means that every Christian has been set apart,utterly dedicated to Christ. Raymond Brown writes,'Believers are not to became saints;they are saints,and then he adds,'They too must be what they are' Unfortunaately like so many Biblical truths the Roman Catholic Church has brought so much confusion into the meaning of saints.

                                                                 

Heed the warning (2 Thessalonians 1 v7-9)

 Throughout history,affluence has often led to spiritual indifference and moral carelessness'.I look around me and I see affluence everywhere. Street lined with cars,household filled with so many things.The majority people have more than enough to eat ,our health service may be struggleing,but a vast number of people are served well by it.I could go on.There is nothing wrong with prosperity,but how many raise a voice of thanks- giving to almighty God? ,not many.Even if people may acknowledge there may be a God they are spiritually indifferent and morally careless,The doors of their hearts are firmly shut,with a notice on in it which reads ,'don't disturb'. Im Matthew 24v 36ff  our Saviour said,'As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of man. for in the days before the flood,people were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, up to the day of Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about about would happen until the flood came and took them away. This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man'.The apostle Paul tells in 2 Thessalonians 1 v 7ff ,This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed  from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our  Lord Jesus'.

                                                           '

Not a change for the better ( Ephesians 5 v3-7)

 The times they are a changeing,I buy the times newspaper every Saturday,and I have read articles on peoples sexual behaviour,the latest one is about a cruise ship that caters for sexual deviants.I found it very sad how distubed these people are,anything goes, it was the Rolling Stones who sang a song with the words,'I can't get no satisfaction,Gonna Try,and I try ,and I try'.The pleasure one gets  from sex is not lasting but for many it's all consuming.Joy Davidman wrote, nobody  can reaonably expect  happiness from an insatiable appetite.God granted us the gift of sex so there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is the gift has taken over peoples lives,in an unhealthy way.Marriage for many is an after thought.We must remember God is a moral being who expects his people to abide by his morality,to go against His morallity is a sin that does not just mean sex,read the 10 commandments 

How could He love me.? ( Ephesians 2 v1 -10)

 We speak of  the Old Covenant Israel being God's special people,and they were,so why did He choose them? In Deuteronomy 7 V 7-8 we read,'The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,but it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors'It ws not their choice it ws God's choice,Raymond Brown writes,'It was not that God lacked compassion for other nations or cared nothing for them......He deliberately chose Israel...to be a special instrument of his purposes in the world'His purposes was and is redemptive.Once that redemptive  purpose was fulfilled in Jesus the call for the new covenant went beyond that of a nation but to evangelise the world (John 3 v16/Acts1 v 8)We Gentiles who are now part of  the new covenant Israel but there was nothing good in us,Christ died for the ungodly He loved us while we were still sinners,not because we loved Him, but that He loved us.(1John 4 v 10)

                                                           'I stand amazed in the presence

                                                            Of Jesus the Nazarene.

                                                            And wonder how He could love me,

                                                            A sinner,condemmed, unclean.'

                                                                    Words  C H.Gabriel.

Dangerous divergence (Matthew 6 v 19 - 24)

 In Deuteronomy 5 v32 reads,'So be careful to do what the Lord your God  has commanded you;do not turn aside to the right or to the left',how people need to hear these words.Let me illustrate something from 'Pilgrims Progress',Christian is on his journey to the celestual land,he had a companion with him called Hopeful. As they journeyed they met a person called Demas who shouted out to them;'Turn aside!There's a silver mine here!With very little trouble,you'll be rich.' When gold was discovered in 1896 in Canada in Klondike gold fever took over and 100,000 people joined the gold rush,some succeeded,but many didn't.Back to Christian and Hopeful,Hopeful when he heard said ,'Let's go and see he said hopefully,but Christian  said he wasn't going ,for he had heard of that place,and it was dangerous' thankfully Hopeful listened to Christian ,and on they wemt on their journey .Let us listen to godly friends instead of rushing on into trouble and bringing our soul into mortal danger ,don't turn aside for anything.

Our Faher (Matthew 6 v 9)

When Egerton first preaced to the native Americans in Saskatchewan,the idea of the fatherhood of God  fascinated people who had hitherto seen God only in the thunder and lightning and the storm blast. An old chief  said to Egerton Young,'Did I hear you say to God''Our Father''?' I did',said Egerton Young.'God is your Father? asked the chief.'Yes',  said Egerton .'And', continued the chief,he is also my Father? 'He certainly is,'said Egerton. Suddenly the chiefs face lit up with a radiance. His hand went out,'Then', he said with the tone of someone making a dazzling discovery,'you and I  are brothers'.

                                                                'Behold, what manner of love

                                                                the Father hath bestowed upon us,

                                                                that we should be called the sons

                                                                of God' ( 1 John 3 v1)

Lest I forget ( Psalm 62 v10)

Are you forgetful I am,its not deliberate,there is nothing I can do about it,but it does concern me,in Deuteronomy 6 v10 ff,Moses was instructing God's people.He reminded them thatGod had promised the land to His people,in fact he swore an oath to Abraham,Isaac,and Jacob that the land would be theirs,it took a long time to bring it into being.God always keeps His word,and although it tarry it will happen,has God promised you something, He has not forgotten his promise to you.You can imagine how excited the people were,their own land, no more being slave in a foreign land.Yet although that is true the Land ultimately beglongs to God,they were but the tenants.Everthing we have from God is just loaned to us,and we will beheld accountable as to our stewardship.Moses tells how they will prosper in this land,in light of that warns them,to not forget that the Lord brought them out of Egypt,out the land of slavery,what he has said  needs to repeated to us all,when you prosper don't forget Calvary.

Your prayers (Colossians4 v2-6)

Often when I visit people,and they share things with me, difficult things,I don't have the answer,the problems are beyond me to solve. Before I leave them I usually pray with them but I assure them of my ongoing prayers for them.I read this recently,'We must spend time with people in order to to understand their problems,and to spend time with God in order to solve them'.So often we fail to do that and we spesk unadvisable to people.Most of us need more wisdom in dealing with people,and also praying for them,we must take prayer very serious,never underestimate the importance of your prayers,let us realize more and more that our prayers can make a difference whatever it may be for.When we say to a person that we will pray for them,let us mean it.I read something recently in one of my daily devotional,it was about Fanny Crosby,'She told of a time when she had run out of money ,and needed five dollars,there was no time to call upon her pubishers,so she simple prayed for the money.Later on that day a friend called,they had a nice time together,but as she was leaving,her friend pressed something into her hands,it was a five-dollar bill.When her friend left,she got on her knees and thanked God'.Out of that experience she wrote that lovely hymn.

                                                        'All the way my Saviour leads me;

                                                        What have I to ask beside?

                                                         Can I doubt His tender mercy,

                                                         Who through life has been my guide?

Nothing hidden (2 Samuel 11 v 27)

 There was an entertainer called Dan Leon he was considered the funnst man in all the earth,yet Marie Lloyd a well known entertainer  said this about him,'Ever seen His eyes?the saddiest eyes in the whole world'.I think about Judas Iscariot it appears that none of the disciples had an inkling that he was going to betray Jesus,they knew that he was a thief (John 12 v 6) .Those three and a half years he followed Jesus, the seriousness what he attended to do was hidden from them, but not from Jesus ( John 13 v18ff) He knows all about us the hidden man,and our hidden motives. We read that Adam and Eve hid from the Lord,you cannnot hide from Him . Think how many murders have not been solved,we dont who did them,but God does,and all will be revealed in a coming day.Our Saviour said ,'For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed,and nothing concealed that will not be brought out into the open.(Luke 8 v17)You may have thought that you got away with whatever,not so.the great judgement day is coming, there is no escape from it,but we can escape the consequenes,by confessing our sin and asking Jesus to forgive us,and to be our Saviour

Stop your wandering (Luke 15 v 11ff)

 Before Isreal were about to enter the promise land,Moses spoke to them we read about it in Deuteronomy which means'second law' '.It is not another law but rather a faithful repetition and more detailed amplication of God's word that was given at Sinai'(The Bible speaks today)In  chap 4 v9,  Moses says ,'Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live'. 'He knows that,in their prosperity,they will quickly forget Him;only  adversity will bring them to their senses.When they have everything,they ignore the God who has filled their hands with innumerable blessings.Only when they have nothing will they value what they have lost.Despite the warnings, they will forget God; (Jer 2 v11- 13) yet despite their sins,He will not  forget them.Even when we forsake God,He does not fail us'. (B S T)  

                                                    'When I would  wander from the path astray,

                                                      Then He will draw me back into the way'

                                                                        'Words  Leonard Weaver'

Suffering and sin. (John 9 )

 In John 9 we read how our Saviour and His disciples came upon a man blind from birth,and his disciples asked the Lord,'Who sinned,this man or his parent,that he was born blind' and the Lord replied ,'neither this man or his parents',There was a reason the disciples asked that question, here was a man blind from birth,it appears some Jewish theologians  had a stange notion of prenatal sin,in other words he sinned in the womb.so Jesus cut across that thought.What about his parents ? Jesus cut across that thought also.It is interesting that Hindu and Buddhist religions believe in moralistic cause and effect,that an individual is personally culpable for their current station in life,whether incurred in this life or one previous.I heard a young who had cancer being told that the reason he has cancer, was because he had sin in his life.I know that sin can cause us suffering because it has conquences.But this does mean in anyway that we have sinned,it does not mean that because one is born in poverty,dire circumstances disabilities etc,that it is beause we have sinned.,not so.But as regards sin we all sin everyone of us, yes that blind man was a sinner nothing to do with his blindness,Jesus did heal him of his blindness ,and even greater news,as a sinner he trusted Jesus as his Saviour,why don't you do that .

More ( Luke 12 v15)

A poet called Horace who lived in the early period of the Roman Empire, said ,'We are just statistics,born to consume resources'.I think it is so true,we live in a consumer society, yes even as Christians,But is that all we are ,statistics? we read of our Saviour,who became poor,He chose the opposite way than most of us. Do we really  believe the poor are blest?,or that it is more blessed to give than receive ,is our Christian life costing us anything? We recently sang a hymn in church  with these words in it,'Take my silver and my gold,not a mite would I withhold;'I thought,do I really mean that,?Did a slight shudder go through the congregation did they really think  about what they were singing.?Im not taking the high ground,but I don't want be a statistic ,born just to consume goods,our Saviour does not want us to be like that.It is something we must think and pray about.

Leprosy ( Isaiah 1 v18)

When I think about Leprosy ,which I rarely do,I relagated it to the Bible ,we read about the laws on Leprosy in Leviticus 13 ff,and how God said it should be controlled v45-46.'Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes,let their hair be unkempt,cover the lower part of there face and cry out,Unclean! Unclean! As long as they have the disease they remained unclean.They must live alone;they must live outside the camp'. It is known as Hansen's disease,and it is thought to be transmitted via droplets from the nose and mouth,it is very contagious.I read this  recently in South and South-East Asia,about 200,000 new cases are diagnosed annually,yet there are millions as yet undiagnosed. The good news is it can be treated successfully, a drug was discovered in 1944 ,it was improved in 1981 so it can effectively cure this awful disease.Before that there was no cure,it developed slowly,and gradually ravaged the body.No one would dare touch a leper,or go near a leper,but in Matthew 8 v1-4,Jesus did, and when He did. the leper was healed.Michael Green writes, 'Never has there been a condition that so illustrated the spiritual condition of humankind. For sin is a terrible disease that seperates us from God,' there is no human cure, the one who healed the leper is the only one who can deal with sin and its consequences.

                                                 'So men today have found the Saviour able

                                                  They could not conquer passion,lust and sin;

                                                 Their hearts had left them sad and lonely,

                                                 Then Jesus came and dwelt,Himself.within'

He will remember, (Matthew 25 v 31- 40)

 Recently my wife and I were invited with a lot of others to a couples 80th birthdays,we have known then a long time.While we were there I saw a person,who many years ago had treated me to a day up in London.We hadn't to much money at that time,so it was much appreciated,he was a qualified barber so he cut my four boys hair ,free of charge.So I felt I should remind him of that and thank him,I also qouted Rev 14 v13 well part of it ,'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord......for their deeds will follow them'Let me just comment on those words,we may not be given any recognition for the good we do here and now,But God  takes note of our good works and He will reward all we have done, none of  us will loose out  all we have done for him will be  rewarded.