Our dont know times. [John 13v 7]

I woke early this morning, and sought to do my usual readings, but struggled as my eyes were still in the sleep mode, the words were a blur. This brought to mind what the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 v 12, Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror. What he was saying was,that there are many things we dont understand in life, the apostle had great spiritual gifts, great understanding, but he was not all knowing, only God knows all. The apostle goes unto write,but then we will see everything with perfect clarity, in other words ,in eternity we will understand, we will know. [Lord there are things we dont understand, which cause us pain, we ask why and there is a silence, help us to trust You, in our dont know times, Amen.]

Eternal Glories [ 2 Corinthians 4]

The old spiritual says, nobody knows the trouble I have seen, nobody but Jesus, as I read the lives of the saints in the Bible , people like David, Daniel,and Paul, not forgetting Job, they all have one thing in common , they all experienced a fair amount of troubles. Life is like this for many people, mybe even you , well what do you do ?. Let us consider what the apostle Paul wrote in relation to the troubles he was experiencing. In 2 Corinthians 4, he writes of being hunted,knocked down, living in constant fear of death, all this was happening because he was serving Jesus, inspite of all these things he did not give up or despair, because he weighed everything up in the light of eternity .he looked at the eternal glories , and so must we. [Father help us to look beyond our difficulties, to weigh everything up in the light of eternity, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen.]

Kept alive. [Psalm 54 ]

In psalm 54, we read these very meaningful words, The Lord keeps me alive[v4], David feels under threat, his very life is in danger, so he declares, But God is my helper, The Lord keeps me alive.I am 64 yrs, how have I survived this far?, how have I not contacted some disease ?, how have I not been killed on the roads, apply this to your life.What is the answer ? God has kept us alive, He is the Sovereign One, until He sees fit we will live, and then in His appointed time, He will take us home. [Father thank you for looking after us, bringing us through so much, things that could have destroyed us, the dangers in life have been many, You have kept us alive, we praise you for this, in Jesus name, Amen.]

Confidence.[Hebrews 10v35]

We are all different, some of us are more confident than others, there are people who appear very confident, but in reality are quaking inside. When watching a person taking a penalty kick in a football match, I look at their faces to try and see if they are confident. We are all called to do certain tasks at times which we dont feel able to do, mybe in reality we can , but we lack confidence. Here is a word on confidence , from Proverbs 3v 26, The Lord shall be thy confidence. as you face problems, as you are called to do certain tasks, whatever , let the Lord be your confidence,today. [Lord so often we feel insecure, things appear to overwhelm us, and we feel anything but confident , so today we ask that you would help us in every situation, in Jesus name we pray this, Amen.]

Spilt milk.[ 2 Samuel 12 v13-25]

There is not a thing we can do , if we spill milk only wipe it up. the saying is true , it is no good crying over spilt milk. I know for many of us we brood , and our mood is affected, when we make a mistake, or we do something wrong. This is not saying we should trivlalize those things we do wrong, or when we even sin, but if we have tried to right the wrong as best we can, and when we have sought forgiveness, then we must move on,and stop punishing ourselves. The story of Davids sin with Bathsheba is pretty awful, there was a child born, and it became sick, David prayed and fasted for that child, but it died, David immediately got up , had a wash ,put on clean clothes, and had something to eat. His advisers were amazed at this, but David told them he had done all he could, can I bring him back from the dead he says?, of course he couldnt, so he moved on. [ Father we confess our many failings to you, how we have made mistakes, even sinned, we have tried to right the wrongs, we have done our best to put things right, so help us to stop punishing ourselves, and to move on, in Jesus name we pray this, Amen.]

Everywhere. [ Matthew 6 v9-13]

Temptation everywhere, I read these words in the paper, so true , there is no place were we cant be tempted. The three areas were we can be tempted are, the world, the flesh, and the devil, so what are we to do?, be on our guard, Jesus said temptations will come, He tells us , to pray that we will not give into temptation, [Luke 22v40]. Remember that we are responsible for our actions, in other words avoid those things ,places, and people that could bring us down. Pray continually the words of Matthew 6v13, And dont let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. [Father we acknowledge that we are weak, and so we pray that you will keep us in the hour of temptation, so that we will not yield, in Jesus name we ask this ,Amen.]

Blessings. [ Matthew 5v 1- 12]

In Proverbs 10v22, we are told , The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and He adds no sorrow with it,there are many people and they are blessed, with success , wealth , good health, etc, but they have things in their lives , that brings them sorrow.Dont just seek to be blest, but seek the blessing of God , thats were true riches come from. I would encourage you to read Matthew 5 v1-12,there we see who God blesses,and what that blessing means, let us seek those blessings,as Proverbs 10v22, tells us,there will be no sorrow in those blessings.[ Father we would request of that You would bless us today,with the blessing that each of us need, in Jesus name we ask this. Amen]