He was there all the time. [ Hebrews 11. ]

In Genesis 28 v16 , we have Jacob saying, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasnt even aware of it, we are creatures of the senses, sight ,hearing, touching,smelling. I partially remember the words of a poem , that said , how blest were those who realised that God was there when He was most invisible. Our walk with God is one of faith , I would encourage you to read Hebrews 11, it is a wonderful chapter, about people who had faith in the invisible God. God is invisible, yet as the poet wrote,He is closer than breathing , and nearer than hands and feet, by faith we believe this. Today we may not be aware that God is there, but he is, looking after us, caring for us, protecting us, giving us the strength to cope , even though we cannot see Him , He is there all the time. [Father God ,help us to walk aright , more by faith less by sight, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen. ]

Do what you can. [ 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 29 ]

Before my voice began to manifest the ravages of time , I used to sing regularly, I still sing but only occasionally, I had a strong voice. Some people were blessed by my singing and occaionally, a person would say I wish I could sing like you, [ I found it strange if a woman said this...Joke ] I understand what they meant. If only they knew how difficult I found singing , I often found it stressful at times, as I was limited musically, and needed always to read the words as I sang, I never could trust my memory, I can assure you my singing was done in much weakness. The thing is , I did the best I could with what I had, and trusted God to help me, and to bless. There was a young boy, and all he had was his lunch, yet he gave it to Jesus, and it was used to bless five thousand plus, he gave what he had ,it wasnt a lot, but Jesus accepted it. Let us do what we can , give what we can, be it ever so little, our Saviour will accept it, and make it a blessing.[ Dear Lord Jesus, take our weakness, our limitations, we offer them to You, and bless them for Your glory, Amen. ]

Shine [ Matthew 5 v 14-16 ]

Jesus us bids us shine with a clear pure light , like a little candle burning in the night, in this world of darkness ,so we must shine, you in your small corner,and I in mine, In Matthew 5 v14, our Saviour says,You are the light of the world. This is the challenge for us today , to shine, and in v16, He tells us how we can shine, let your good deeds shine out, in other words when we are helping someone we are shining,how important do you see good works in your life ?, now we are not saved by our good works, [Ephesians 2 v 8-9 ], but the evidence that we are saved is by doing good.[ James 2v 18-19 ], in Hebrews 10 v 24, we read,Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. So today let us shine, not that we may be praised but that our loving heavenly Father may be glorified. [Father help us to shine ,as our Saviour commanded us to do, in His name we ask this, Amen. ]

Surprise. [John 11 v 40. ]

As one reads the Bible, we see how God loves to surprise people,think of the people Jesus surprised , the man blind from birth [ John 9 ] , it was just another day, when suddenly all was changed, he recieved his sight. Or the family at Bethany [John 11 ]were all hope had gone , Lazarus had died, but then Jesus came, all was changed, in a moment, what a surprise. There are many more examples in the Bible of God surprising people, mybe He will surprise you today, in a way that will amaze you, for He is the God of surprises. [Father God help us to trust you in every situation, and help us to believe that You are the God of surprises , one who can transform any situation in a moment, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen. ]

Watch them words. [James 3 v 1 12 ]

There is wisdom in silence, and so many of us need that wisdom, in the book of Proverbs [18v 27-28 ]we read, A truly wise person uses few words....... Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent, with their mouths shut , they seem intelligent. My study Bible says regards this about being silent. [1 ] It allows you the opportunity to listen and learn. This is so important so often we do not take time to listen ,being a good listenering is very important.[2] Make sure you pause to think and to listen so that when you do speak you will have something important to say. Again that is very important advice, we should not be quick to jump in, having listened mybe we need to sleep on it, pray about it, and then give the advice thats needed.Words are so easily spoken, but the wise thing to do is think before you speak, so watch them words. [Father in the name of your Son , Jesus, grant unto us wisdom in all our ways, and especially with our words . Amen .]

Moods [ James 5 v17-18 ]

Sometimes it is a struggle to pray , and sometimes we struggle when we pray, I am sure this applies to everyone, even to the most godly of people. Let us always remember prayer is not performing ,our Saviour made this very clear , read Matthew 6 v5, no, prayer should be, the real you ,meeting with your loving heavenly Father. When we meet with God there is nothing hid from Him, He sees and knows everything about us, He knows what makes us tick, knows all about our moods. So whatever our mood, let us pray to our loving heavenly Father, in all our need, and in our moods, there is a blessing in perservering. Pray on and pray through .[ Loving heavenly Father , we lift up to you our weaknesses, are inperfections, and in the name of Jesus accept the prayers we offer, Amen .]

Relationships. [2 Corinthians 6 v14 -18.]

Let us consider the but in Jehoshaphats life, he made an alliance with king Ahab, he did this by having his son marry Ahabs daughter,Ahab was king of Israel a weak and wicked king, who was ruled by his pagan wife Jezebel. This same son eventually became king and acted very wickedly to such a degree that we read about his death , that no one was sorry when he died ,[2 Chronicles 21v20]. Jehoshaphats action had other consequences, it nearly caused his death, yet inspite of this he never learned his lesson, for he again made an alliance with another wicked king [2 Chronicles 20v35],and suffered for that, the sad fact is, he never seemed to learn from his mistakes. Let us learn an important lesson from all this, and it is this, there is a separateness in the Christian life that is healthy, and wise, and if we ignor it we will suffer.[ Father help us to be wise as regards our relationships, for wrong relationships can have an affect on us, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. ]