God is angry [John 3 v16 ]

Last night we had thunder and lightning, some old people used to say about thunder that it is God being angry,I dont thing so. Does God become angry? , it appears He does, there are many scriptures that speaks of God being angry, Psalm 7v11, tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day.How do we reconcile this with the words in 1 John 4 v16, that tells us that God is love. The fact is that even loving people become angry, so it is with God He is a righteous God, a Holy God , He hates sin, in any shape or size, and will judge it. Gods anger I believe is just and right, do we not feel anger when we read of child abuse ?, of course we do ,how much more must a holy God feel such things,I use child abuse as an example, in Gods case He hates all sin feels it deeply, yes with anger, and will eventually judge it, but God is love. God who is love thought up and brought into being , a way that could save people, you and me, Calvary, the cross, when we embrace Christ as our Saviour , then Gods anger is turned away fron us, and we have then peace with God. [Holy God we acknowledge that we are sinners, deserving of your righteous anger, and judgement, we thank You , for Jesus who died for us, so we could be forgiven , Amen .]

Giving all.[1 Corinthians 9 ]

In luke 21 v1-4, we read of our Saviour watching rich people dropping gifts into the collection box, the Jews were expected to pay a temple tax, but there was also boxes left out for freewill offerings.Yet it is a poor widow woman who is commended for her giving ,not the rich people, why? ,because her giving was generous and sacrificial. We become touchy when money is mentioned in church, I recently spoke to a friend, who had left the fellowship he had been attending for years, and joined another one, his reason being, the church he was attending were continually asking for money, for a certain project. The challenge comes to all of us from that reading in Luke 21,is not only are we to give , but we are to give sacrificially , not just with money , but in our service to others, let us remember Jesus is watching. [Father we thank you for all your kindness to us every day, all that we have comes from you, you are so generous, help us, to be generous with others ,in our giving and in our serving, in Jesus name we ask this . Amen. ]

Be careful [Ephesians 4 v17-32 ]

Oswald Chambers said ,We must never allow anything to injure our relationship with God, the fact of the matter is we can and we do. Someone recently said to me,about a certain fellowship of believers, that all they do is gossip about each other, gossip surely has an affect on our relationship with God. In Ephesians 4 v 30, we read, Do not bring sorrow to Gods Holy Spirit by the way you live, v 31, reads, Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as as all types of evil behavior. I suppose there are many other ways we can cause sorrow to God, so let us be careful not to cause our Saviour any pain today. [Dear God and Father , we are trully sorry that we give you pain so often, please forgive us, and help us to cease from anything that is wrong, for Jesus sake we ask this, Amen. ]

The past [Psalm 37.]

We are not to let the past rule us ,nor are not meant to live as prisoners of the past, but there is a positive side to the past, as we look back we can take encouragement . The palmist David did this , in Psalm 37v25, He declares, Once I was young, and now I am old, yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging bread. These words are a testimony of Gods faithfulness,and a needy reminder that God is faithful ,He will look after His own. Like David I can declare the truth of these words, God has provided for me and my family,years ago when we were living by faith,with hardly anything in the house to eat, there was a knock on my door, it was a man with a box of croceries, he had been asked to deliver it, he never said who it was from, we never found out who sent this gift, but it was Gods provision. [ Loving Heavenly Father thank you for your faithfulness in the past, thank You that you will continue to care for us your chidren, in the present and in the future, in Jesus name we pray this. Amen .]

Spaghetti.[ Ephesians 3 v 20 ]

Life sometimes looks like a plate of spaghetti to me, all those tangled pieces of pasta, for often life appears a tangled mess,beyond our ability, to unravel. I am sure we all feel like this at times , we have situations in our lives, that are so tangled and difficult, we despair. Likewise as we look out on this world ,so many tangled situations ,energy problems , economic problems, conflicts that our unending, and seem unresolvable. Well what do we do ?, despair, no , here is what we do, we pray, consider the following statement, (More powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in this world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth.) [Torrance ].[ Father we thank You for granting us the privllege of prayer, help us to not despair, when we are faced with problems,help us to pray about everything with faith in your power to deal effectively and wonderfully with every problem, in the name of Jesus ,we ask this. Amen.]

Foolishness [Matthew 6 v25 -34 ]

I know I shouldnt do it, but I do, I worry , not all the time,but I still fall into the trap of worrying, one may say its only human, it cant be helped. A memory of the past comes to mind, an old lady,called Mrs Porter,she liked to drink, and when she had a few, she used to sing a song that remains in my memory, Why worry, why worry,worry gets you no where at all, and you know it is true.Just during the week I was travelling to a certain place , on the M25, and I missed my turning, was I worried, you bet I was, I really cried out to God, and you know what happened I got to my destination, and as I was coming back home I noticed the road I should have travelled on was choker block, God had overruled, oh the foolishness, and folly of worry. [Dear Loving Heavenly Father ,we ask for your forgiveness, for our lack of trust in You , to care for us, in Jesus name we ask this. Amen .]

Doom and gloom. [ Psalm 46 ]

As we hear the headlines , energy prices rising , the housing market collapsing, knife crime, drugs, it looks like a case of doom and gloom. The Christian is not to ignor realities, we are part of this world,things are becoming difficult , so what should we do? well we must do what the saints in all ages have done, we are to trust in God. I am reminded of the words of an old chorus which goes, God is still on the throne and He will remember His own, the devil [ oh yes there is a devil ]would have us believe the lie that there is no hope, he is a liar, God is sovereign , He is in control, He is watching over His own , so let not your heart be troubled, so said our Saviour,believe it. [Dear God and Father, help us today not to be overwhelmed by news reports of doom and gloom, or by problems in our own lives, help us to have faith in You, to care for us, and undertake for us in every situation, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen .]