A bump on the head [Psalm 150 ]

I was feeling melanchollic recently , I dont think it was a Winston Churchills black dog day, but it was affecting me, and I got a bump on the head, and it was as if God was shocking me out of my melancholly, it did work. Sometimes we need shock treatment to help us realise things are not as bad as we think, we need to begin to focus on others, we need to start praising God, praise can drive the blues away, the hymn wrote , O for a heart to praise my God, let us try this today, I can assure you it will be less painful than a bump on the head. [Father we ask You to fill our hearts with praise for You today, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen.]

When God shuts one door [Romans8 v28. A.V]

I was watching a T.V. programe , and one of the actors said that old worn out phrase , when God shuts one door, and the response by another actor was, yes He breaks your heart. Does God break hearts? is that to severe a thing to say ?, it may seem so,especially if your heart is breaking at this time. It is to ancient Israel God declares ,I have loved you with an everlasting love, [Jeremiah 31v3], yet in that same book we have the prophet, going to the potters house, and he sees the potter breaking imperfect pots, and remaking them, the lesson being that ,Israel was like that imperfect pot and God was going to remake them. Let us remember whatever breaking experience we may go through , God loves us and He only desires whats best for us. [Loving Heavenly Father we place all our breaking experiences into your hands, we believe you have a loving purpose for our lives, remake us in your image, for the glory of Jesus, Amen. ]

All the answers [ Ecclesiastes 3 1-8 ]

The very nature of life throws up so many unexplainable things, no one has all the answers, there are so many things, we do not understand. The why will always hunt us, why this , why that, it is ungoing, and often unknowing, so what can we do?. Well we can let the why rule our lives, disturbing our peace,creating unrest,or we can just commit it all to God, let us leave it there, as the old gospel song says, take your burden to the Lord , and leave it there, take all your whys , give them to Him. [Father for all our knowledge ,there is still so much we dont understand, so much that puzzles us, we bring all our whys to you , take them and give us the grace to move on, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen ]

A cup of cold water [Luke 19 v 12-27 ]

What does God require of you and me?, well He only requires us to do what He has given us to do. I am leader of a small church, it has always been so, that is my responsibility, that is what He has intrusted to me, this is all I am accountable for. It may be nice and challenging at times to preach to larger gatherings ,but at this time I am only responsible for my small church. I had a burden to be a missionary, I tried my best to make that happen, but it did not happen, God had other plans for my life. Remember be faithful wherever your Lord has placed you, and be faithful with what ever He has placed in your hands, even if it is only a cup of cold water.[ Dear Lord help us to be faithful in the place were you have placed us,and to be faithful with what you have intrusted to us,
Amen.]

You feed them.[ Luke 9v 10-17 ]

We know that God fed Israel with manna, this was not the norm, the norm is, you and I,we are the hands of God,in this world. The needs of others are , our responsiblity,when I lived by faith God used others to meet my needs, thankfully there were those who listened to Gods prompting , and gave to us.It is James who challengs us to be practical in our outlook, [James 2v 14-17 ], the words of our Saviour are a challenge to all of us ,You feed them, will we rise to this challenge?. [ Father you are the giving God, you give us so much, your mercies are new every morning, we give you thanks, help us to be more like you in our giving, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen. ]

Friendship. [Romans 5 v 6-11]

Friendship is very important to all of us, I do value my friends,and hope to make new ones. There is much one could say about this subject, but I want us to consider the following words from Romans 5v11, So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Today dear child of God,you have a friend in high places, God, so let none of us consider ourselves friendless, and let us rejoice in this friendship, it is not a friendship of equals ,but it is a friendship that cannot be equalled.[ Dear God you are so awesome, and yet you are ,our friend, thank you from the bottom of are hearts for your friendship, through Jesus your Son, Amen.]

Giving up [ Proverbs 24 v16 ]

I read this recently , Learn from your failures, the fact of the matter we will all fail, marriages fail, businesses fail, students fail. Just recently my grand daugther passed her driving test,at the third attempt, I am sure she learned something from her two failures. Here is another thing to consider, because we fail in some area of life ,it does not make us a failure. The greatest of people fail,we all without exception will fail, at something, let us all learn from our failures. If you are down in the dumps at this time because you haved failed at something, pray about it , ask God to reveal what lessons you need to learn, and above all else dont give up, you are not a failure .[Father help us to learn from our failures, grant unto us grace to rise above our failures, in Jesus name,Amen.]