Guidance [ Psalm 32 v 8 ]

An awful lot of my life has been taken up with guidance, in fact it is on going, and so it should be, for we are instructed to acknowledge God in all our ways, [Proverbs 3v6 ]. I hope as we go on in our Christian life we gain wisdom , and learn from our mistakes, yet no matter how long we are Christians, there is that continual need to rely on God to guide us. This is not place of fear but of security , for we are promised continually that we will be guided by God, the continual challenge is to walk by faith, that means trusting the invisible God. I believe there are two aspects in this guiding , the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, as we prayerfully rely on God , have the confidence,to trust God to lead , and to guide. [ Dear God and Father help us in all of life, to be guided by You, keep us in that attitude of humility, and reliance on You, and obedience to your will, in Jesus name we ask this , Amen. ]

Time [Acts 16 v31 ]

There is a saying that relates to the eldery in relation to time, that the hours pass slowly but the years go quickly,there is an old hymn that has the words, life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf, like the binding of a sheaf, and then it adds , be in time. Be in time ,why do we need to be in time, well it is simply reminding us that we need to get saved, before it is to late. It is only in this life do we have the opportunity to trust in Jesus, after death the judgement, so it is vital that while we have life, while we have time, to not neglect the offer of salvation, and to trust Jesus as our own and personal Saviour, have you done this? if not do it today. [Dear God we thank you for Jesus the Saviour of the world, the Saviour of the whosoever, Amen. ]

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.]