Things that make us sad.. [ Mark 1 v 41 -44 ]

As I get older I find myself shedding tears as I watch the news on the T V, sadness often fills my heart, as I hear of child abuse, or some awful tragedy, like a suicide bomber, and so on. There are many things that make me sad , this is not a bad thing for often it drives us to pray, for those situations. It would be a tragedy for any us to feel no emotions ,one of the dearest thing about Jesus is that He is touched with our situations, our hurts, our pains. [ Hebrews 4 v 15. av] So today if you are feeling sadness for whatever reason , tell Jesus about it, the old hymn says,/ no one understands like Jesus/, and it is true, the poet wrote ,/ with every pang that rends the heart the man of sorrows has a part/. [ Dear Lord Jesus we bring to You all those things that make us sad, we ask that we may never grow indifferent to others suffering,or overwhelmed by our own, we rejoice that You care for the whole human situation, and we praise You , that You are never indifferent ,to our pain and the pain of others, Amen ]

Vunerable[ Psalm 121 ]

When one is engaged in certain work, you can be very vunerable to people making accusations against you,or by the possiblity of one acting inappropriate. There are so many areas of life in which we are all vunerable, the question is what can we do to protect ourselves?. Well we have at all times to act wisely, a fridge magnet we have, reads,/ Lead me not into temptation, I can find the way myself/, one thing God does not take away from us is human responsiblity,we are to do all we can to avoid situations , that could lead into, moral and spiritual danger. We must trust God to watch over us, and He has promised to do this,the scriptures are full of words of assurance of Gods protective and preserving power, I would encourage you to read Psalm 121,there we are assured that our all powerfull God , promises to watch over us, and He will. [ Father we admit there are many times we feel vunerable, and afraid,so today we ask that You watch over us, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen ]

The best book.[ Matthew 7 v 21 - 27 ]

I do not like borrowing books, for a number of reasons, because they are not mine I cannot write comments in them, or I may forget to give them back, and then I would be remembered as a book - keeper. Books are very important to me, I treasure a good book, especially a good commentary , I have books on the lives of famous people, such as Churchill, Nelson ,and many others, but the book I treasure the most is the Bible. What makes it so special? well it is the word of God,and in that wonderful book we have many things revealed to us, and the key theme of the bible is Christ, it tells us who He is, and why He came. There is a little chorous which goes, / The best book to read is the Bible/, it really is. [ Father we thank You for Your word the Bible,help us to value it greatly, to read it and understand it, and most of all to obey it, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

Anniversary [ Lamentations 3 v 22- 23 ]

Today is for me is the anniversary of my coming to live in England, 30 yrs ago my family and I set out from Craigavon in Northern Ireland in a little Morris Minor. On our journey we got a puncture, also the fan belt had to be tightened ,we had to travel from Scotland right down to our destination in Kent, and then to our final destination , Grays, where we have lived every since. As we set out on our Journey God give us a wonderful word from Exodus 23v20, /See I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you/, and He did. Many things have happened in those 30 years, painful things, joyful things, disappointing things, but in it all, God has remained faithful, and by His grace we are still trusting, still following, still seeking His will for our lives. [Dear loving Heavenly Father we give You thanks , for anniversaries,that remind us of many things,our losses, crosses,our gains , our tears, our joys, but most of all Your faithfulness, Amen .]

A motto [ 1Chronicles 4 v 9 - 10 ]

David Livingstone the great Victorian explorers parents family motto was, /Be honest/,I dont have a motto myself , mybe you dont have one either, but I am sure that we could all adopt the Livingstones motto , of being honest. The world needs honest people, people who will not cheat, people who will not go along with the crowd. One may refrain from having a motto because , like new years resolutions, we usually fail to keep them,most of us if we are honest are far from being one hundred percent successful in our resolutions, thats one reason why we should not judge others. So what can we do?, well we can very simple, be honest to God, and ask Him for the grace, to live each day in a manner that will glorify Him, and He will. I close with the words of a hymn , which we can all pray, [ Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus this my plea, I am weak but Thou art strong, Jesus keep me from all wrong, Amen ]

A new nature . [Isaiah 11 v 6-9 ]

The first world war was suppose to be the war to end all wars, it should have been ,but it was not, we are all aware of the history of the 20th century, wars and more wars. We should not be surprised at this , in Matthew 24, our Saviour said ,/nations will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom [ v 7 ]. We may ask why, people blame it on religion , and there is doubt ,religion may be a cause, but that is not the reason , the reason is our fallen nature, a nature that has within it violence , [Romans 3 v10-18], and this was shown in its fullness, when Jesus was crucified. So let us not be surprised at the violence mankind manifests, it is the nature of the beast. We all know the thoughts of murder that arise in our mind, and how it is so easy to loose our temper, and to damage someone if not physicaly,then with our tongue. When we trust Jesus as our Saviour a change takes place ,His Spirit indwells us, and it is He, who will help us to change. [ Father we acknowledge that we are fallen creatures ,so often controlled by our fallen natures, we ask that Your Holy Spirit , may fill us and control us, we ask this in the name of Jesus , Amen ]

Masks [ 1 Peter 5 v 7 ]

The story is told of a person who visited his doctor, he felt depressed, so the doctor said, there is a circus in town, and I am told there is a very funny clown performing there, go and see him, that will lift your spirits, his patient replied I am that clown. In Proverbs 14 v13, we read,/Laughter can conceal a heavy heart/, so true, behind a smiling face there can be a heavy heart, it does not only apply to the entertainment industry.Many of us wear masks , and it is only God who really knows us, success does not necessary mean happiness, whatever hidden burdens we may be carrying, let us remember , God does know, and does care. No one understands like Jesus, so today bring your unhappiness to Him, who loves you the most, be it lonliness,rejection, feelings of not being loved, or whatever, remember He cares for you. [Dear Lord Jesus you know all about us, those hidden fears,heavy hearts, which we hide from others, we ask that these things may not overwhelm us, and that You may fill our hearts with Your comfort, peace and presence, Amen ]