I am glad [ Proverbs 3 v 5- 6 . a v ]

There is an old hymn that reads/God holds the key of all unknown and I am glad, If other hands should hold the key or if He trusted it to me I might be sad/.I am 64 nearly at the age of retirement , what about the future? what does it hold for me ?, what can I do ?, well I look back and learn from the past,first of all I pray, then I read Gods word, then I submit all to God. In the past I have tried many doors, and many have stayed shut, at the time , one felt disappointed, but with hindsight I see and understand, that God was doing what was best for me,and choosing what was best for me. It used to be when a person was 21 they recieved the key of the house, well let say this , as I have said I am 64, but I still want God to hold the key, for Him to open the right doors and to close the wrong ones, I have learned from experience , this is best, for if he trusted it to me I might be sad.

Why did He come ?[ 1 Timothy 1 v 15 ]

Why did Jesus come? , here is the answer ,/ Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, [1 Timothy 1v 15], another question one can ask , who are the sinners?, the answer is everyone, Romans 3 v23 tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The next question is what affect does this have on us, the answer is, we are lost,and in our sinful state we will remain lost. Here is a term that describe our lostness,we are perishing,and in that state we will eventually go to Hell, eternally lost, in John 3v 16, we read, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ,that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. When we believe in Jesus we are no longer perishing, we are saved, our sins have been forgiven, we are no longer lost, we have been found. [Dear God we thank You that there is a way back to You from the dark paths of sin , there is a door that is open that we may go in, Calvarys cross is where we begin when we come as a sinner to Jesus. Amen ]














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But I only spoke to him. [ 1 Corinthians 13 v 4 ]

I was walking through a local supermarkets car park, and I spotted a man sitting in an old Morris Minor, my first car was a Morris Minor. I suppose you always remember your first car, ours was special , a dear widow gave us it ,as a gift, it was an answer to prayer, and was a real blessing to us. Well I could not resist but to stop and speak to the man in the car, he had owned the car, nearly 40 yrs, and so we chatted, it turned out he was a believer, I then went to go on my way , and as I did he said , thank you for your kindness, my kindness I thought, but I only spoke to him. We live in a world that is on always rushing, if you drive you soon realise this, we are always trying to beat the traffic lights, always trying to get to our destinations before we have arrived, we never it seems have time as the poet says to stop and stare. So mybe it is a kindness to stop and talk to someone, mybe it may just brigthen someones day, that someone has taken the trouble to stop and talk to them.

Imagine [John 13 v1-17 ]

Imagine the Queen leaving her palace going into the poorest and dirtist place imaginable , rolling up her sleeves and cleaning it, and ministering to the sick, washing them,helping them go to the toilet, cleaning their bottoms, can you imagine her doing those things? The bible tells us of one who was God, one who was rich, the one who was the very creator of the universe,that He came into this cesspool of a world, to lay down His life in serving and saving others , one cannot imagine such a thing , but its true. This was Jesus , the one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, what did He do? He gave up His divine privileges, He took the humble position of a slave, and was born as a human being ,and here is the most amazing thing of all, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminals death on a cross. [Dear Jesus, thank you, Amen. ]

The money markets [ Psalm 46 ]

The money markets are struggling, money giants are falling, goverments are doing there best to support the markets,it is a real cause of concern. Psalm 46 is wonderful , it is full of reassurance, for I am sure that many people need to be reassured at this time, the psalm starts with God ,this is where we all need to start , for it is in Him and him alone, we find our security, not in the money markets, or whatever, God is our security. Consider the following words, God is our refuge and strength always ready to help in times of trouble. Read those words, memorize these words, believe them, for they will grant you that perfect peace, which the world cannot give,be still and know that He is God[v 10 ]. [Father so much in life is uncertain, we can feel so vunerable, help us to day to be still and know that you are God, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen ]

Forced labour [John 21 v15- 17 ]

It appears to me that Jonah was forced to yield to God, I wonder are we all a bit like Jonah? often prayer is the last thing we do, some of us only pray when we have to, and as for reading Gods word, well, we leave that to the preacher. If God spoke to us as he did to Jonah, would we react any different ?, we live under Grace, we are free, we are loved unconditional, those things are true, but surely the words of Jesus/, all who love me will do what I say [John 14v23 ]/ , tells us ,that love is a two way thing, and requires a loving response. One of my earliest memories of school was being forced to go,and the last thing a parent wants is for their child to only obey when forced to, you are not going to leave the table until , every parent remembers that. It does appears to me that so much of our relationship, with our Saviour could come under the term forced labour. [ Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for that love which we have experienced in your son Jesus, we are sorry that so often we act like we are under forced labour, it is to our shame we admit this, soften these hearts of ours, for the sake of Jesus our loving Saviour, Amen ]

Idols. [Exodus 20 v 1-17 ]

One of the great problems in Israels history was idolatry, time after time they created idols, and time after time, God sent His prophets to speak to them, it appears at times they had forsaken their idols, but so often it was a false dawn. Israel appeared to break free from this cycle after the exile in Babylon, then religion took over, we may not realize it but even religion can become an idol. It appears to me that mankind is very prone to idolatry, even modern man , sometimes this appears obvious sometimes it is less obvious, but it is there all the same, the dictionary defines idolatry,/ as an object of excessive devotion or admiration, as a pop star, etc./. The words of a hymn come to mind, /The dearest idol I have known ,whatever that may be, help me to pull it from thy throne and worship only Thee. [ Dear God , so many things can become idols,legitimate things, we are so prone to idolatry, it is a sinful tendancy that can seriously affect our relationship with You , help us to worship only You, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen ]