The lost

Convince a man against his will and he remains of that opionion still, so one once said. Our Saviour found this to be true , no matter what He said ,or did, people remained unchanged.Many are lost because they refuse to listen, refuse to see, and unless they are prepared to listen, and see , there is no hope. Some of the sad/dest words in the bible are in Matthew 23v37, were Jesus describes Gods pleading to Jerusalem, all to no avail, [ but you wouldnt let Me]. Acts 16v31 exhorts us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ,and we will be saved, the question is are you listening?,so much depends on this, and are you willing to obey?.

One door closes

I went to my usual barbers recently, it was closed, so I went to another,the person who cut my hair was a young Muslim lad, as he cut my hair I thought it would be hard to have a conversation with him, but to my surprise he started a talk ,that lead me to witness to him about Christ. God does shut doors but He also opens other ones. Remember shut doors are just as much Gods leading, as open doors are.

Pray.Pray. Pray.

In praying we are saying to God that we are depending on Him,the hymn writer wrote, I need you every hour, most gracious Lord. and the fact of the matter is we do. so , pray ,pray , pray. Dont heed your decietful heart , dont listen to the enemy of your soul , your God hears and answers prayer, so again I say ,pray, pray, pray.

Forgetting

Being forgetful is seen as a weakness , but it is the apostle Paul, who exhorts us to ,forget those things which are behind,[Philippians 3v13,[a.v], it is so easy to dwell on the past,so much so that we become prisoners of the past, there are so many of us who are trapped in the past, past failures, successes,hurts,, the way for the christian ,is always forward,our Saviour said we are not to look back,[Luke 9v62] its an unworthy occupation looking back.

Image

What is so special about mankind ?are we just another type of animal?, here is what Gods word says, and God said , Let us make man,in our image,[Gen 1v26], every human being has the stamp of God upon them. Sin has left its mark, but it has not destroyed the image of God, on our being.In Christ that image is being restored, to what it should be. As you look at others , remember no matter how bad, or unlovely, that person may appear,they have been made in the image of God. Love them , pray for them, that they know Christ as there Saviour, for its only in Christ, will that image be fully restored.

Exhortations

When writing his epistles, Paul deals with the theology, and then challenges with exhortations, you see theology is of no use to us, if it does not affect our lives. If we our not more holy, loving,if we are better people for what we believe, then whats the point of our theology, God is not looking for spiritual eggheads. Here are but two of the many exhortations we are challenged with from Ephesians, 5v2 ,Live a life filled with love . v8, Live as people of light.

Concerns

Us, of the older generation remember that old hymn , What a friend we have in Jesus ...what a priveleage to carry everything to God in prayer, this may be an old hymn , but the truth of those words are so important, I visited two old friends last night, they are Christians ,their sons marriage is heading for divorce, I really felt for the whole situation, concerned. What can one do ? the answer, show a loving concern, and take it to the one who fully understands and cares, for it is true in the words of the hymn, no one understands like Jesus.