Perseverance.[2 Timothy 4 v 6-8 ]

I read this today ,/Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God/ , by William Carey, I would commend to you, to read his life story, he served the Lord in India. One of his greatest achievements was translating the word of God , I imagine translating work takes perserverance,I remember reading how he had nearly completed one translation, and it was destroyed by fire, he did not give up, but took up the task again, and finished it, in other words he persevered.One of the most important things in the Christian life is perseverance, of not giving up on the task that God has given us to do, of not giving up on people, of not giving up in following Jesus. [Father in heaven ,you know how many things can cause us to give up, help us today by your grace to persevere in all things that are according to your will, for Jesus sake we ask this , Amen. ]

Our enemy .[ Matthew 4 v1-11 ]

The other night I had a dream, I seem to be dreaming more,and in this dream I saw a lion, I did not feel fear ,but I felt it important to escape from it, as one would. This dream reminded me of the words of First Peter 5 v8, which reads, /Stay alert , Watch out for your enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. We do have an enemy who is out to destroy us, for the unsaved it is very , very, serious, their eternal destiny is at stack, for the believer it is also very serious, just recently I heard of a Christian leader,who fell morally. I am conscious of my vunerability, as I hope you are, so stay alert ,pray without ceasing, read the word of God, be filled with the Spirit, rely on God not yourself, resist the devil and he will flee from you , [James 4 v 7 ] [Dear Lord help us in our weakness, we are conscious of our weakness, so help us,by your grace to stand against the enemy of our souls, in your name we ask this. Amen. ]

Amazing love.[ Romans 5 v6-11 ]

I found myself singing the words of a hymn , which goes, / loved with everlasting love/ , these words come from the book of Jeremiah,they are so meaningful, spoken by God through the prophet, to Israel at a time of spiritual backsliding.The nation had forsaken God,and yet God tells them that He loves them ,with an everlasting love.They were still loved inspite of their failures, inspite of there backsliding, the fact is ,no one merits the love of God, if we could, there would have been no need of Calvary. Today let us remember that God loves His children ,[ are you His child? read John 1v12], with an everlasting love, a love that is , unmerited, undeserved, and unconditional. [Father God your love is amazing ,it trully is,we praise You , and thank You for such love, we thank You in name of Jesus ,Amen ]

Burdens . [ Psalm 34 v 4- 6 ]

It is inevitable that we will all have to carry some sort of burden in life, we cant escape this, we would like to , but it is not possible. Of course there are burdens that do leave us, we resolve them, and they are but a memory,but there are those burdens that appear to be permanent, every day we have to carry that burden , it just will not go away. Whatever your burden is ,the important thing to bear in mind is that God is sovereign, in other words He is in control, with prayer He can lift that burden. Just recently one of my boys was faced with a large debt, we prayed and prayed, God answered, and removed that debt. Prayer is the key , whatever burden we may be carrying, pray, dont despair, prayer can change situations, and circumstances.[ Father help us not to despair because of the burden we are carrying, help us to pray in faith, for you to remove that burden,whatever it may be, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen ]

Yearning [Matthew 11 v 28-30 ]

Mankind appears to me to be driven , there is something in them, we reach for the stars, we do the lottery, no matter how much we know, we want to know more. Mankind appears to have a want in them, a want that never appears to be satisfied, what is that want?. It is in the book of Ecclesiastes 3 v11, we read these telling words, He [ God ] has planted eternity in the human heart, my study Bible points out, that this means, we can never be completely satisfied with earthly pleasures and pursuits. Because we are created in Gods image,we have a spiritual thirst, [2] we have eternal value,and [3] nothing but the eternal God can trully satisfy us. So mankind keeps searching , unfortunately in the wrong place , and for the wrong things. In John 7 v37 our Saviour says, Anyone who is thirsty may come unto me, there is an old hymn which reads, / I sighed for rest and happiness, I yearned for them, not Thee [Jesus ],But while I passed my Saviour by, His love laid hold on me, Now none but Christ can satisfy, None other name for me, Theres love , and life, and lasting joys , Lord Jesus , found in Thee. [Father we thank You that in your son Jesus we have the answer to the want in us, Amen ]

Why.[ Romans 8 v28 ]

Sometimes I think I need my eyes tested, and then I clean my glasses, and everything is different, I can see clearly. It is in I Corinthians 13 v12, we read, Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. The question that hunts mankind is , why?, we all have asked this question , as we have observed ,famines, earthquakes, wars, and so on, also our own personal tragedies. The why is never far from mankinds thoughts, a death of a loved one, an illness that wont heal, a loss , yes there are so many things, that can cause us to ask the question why?. The fact of the matter is, we may not during our lifetime recieve an answer , to our , why?, sometimes we do . Consider the life of Joseph in Genesis , chapters 37/ 39 -50,he could see the reason why, but often we dont. The Christian life is one of trust, as you read the scriptures in a balanced way , you see many dear children of God suffering , and there is no human explanation, there are answers , we could give or attempt to give, Paul the apostles answer was wait and see, he writes , then shall we know, the answers to our why.[ Loving heavenly Father, we do struggle to come to terms with so much in life, help us today to keep on trusting You, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen ]

Faith / Prayer [ Matthew 17 v 20 ]

There are two men whom I admire , they are both in the glory, I never met them but I have read their lives, they are called, Hudson Taylor, and George Mullier. God used one in China, the other was used in establishing orphanage work, in Bristol, they both were men of faith , and prayer. They saw God answer prayer in the most remarkable ways, particulary in relation to finance, they never made appeals for money, by faith they prayed, and God answered. I would not say it is wrong to make an appeal for funds, or to ask someone to help you financially, but I believe we must be careful not to exploit the vunerable, better to go without than to do that. From a personal point of view I believe the examples of these two men, and the faith they had, and the answers to prayer they had ,can be a challenge to all of us to pray believing that God will answer our prayers. [Father we ask that you would help us to pray believing, to have faith in You, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen .]