Balance [ 2 Timothy 16 - 17 ]

We must be balanced Christians, very important, rest ,work and play, and also with our theology , God is balanced, yes even in the O T. Gods attributes are many, and they are all of equal importance, God forgives, but He also judges, He is all powerful, but He is also forgiving, you see what I mean. The fact of the matter is, most of us are inbalanced,in our personalities , and in what we believe. I believe James wrote his epistle to bring balance,Paul emphasized the grace of God,we are saved by grace,not by works, [Ephesians 2 v8-9] although in verse ten, he brings in the importance of works, yet his main thrust is on the grace of God that saves us. What James seeks to bring is a balance , stressing that works are an evidence that we are saved, that they witness to the reality of our salvation. [Father we confess that so often we are out of balance, we are prone to excesses, help us to be balanced Christians, to be more like You , we ask this in Jesus name. Amen ]

An unnnatural act.[ Matthew 6 v 43-47 ]

I borrow the term,/ unnatural act/, from Philip Yanceys book, /Whats so amazing about Grace/, it is a book that we all need to read, again and again.An unnatural act,what does it mean? ,it is Yancey, who uses the term ungrace, to describe the hate,revenge,lack of forgiveness, that is manifest in the world, it is what we do naturally.As I hear of awful wicked things happening, to children and others , my natural desire is that those who carry out such things should be dammed to hell for all eternity, thats ungrace. Being a Christian demands of us to act in an unnatural way, a way of forgiveness, a way that blessing those who hurt us, and those we love, we cannot do this naturally,we just cant, but we can by the grace of God, that amazing grace which we sing about. [Father we ask You to help us to act in an unatural way, to love the unloveable, to pray for those we would naturally hate, pour out Your grace into our lives, that we may show Calvary love, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

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 ]