Gods will.[ Jude v 24 ].

We are all different, some of us are natural optimist others are pessimist, I use the word natural, to describe the way we are born, but if we are Christians, we have been born again by the Spirit of God. Being born again means that we have entered into Gods kingdom, the Spirit of God dwells within us, and His task is to change us. As I look at my life I see how God the Holy Spirit has been changing me,moulding me, continually challenging me, convicting me, I am not the person I once was, indeed I am a work still in progress. Most of us as Christians would agree that we need to change, but let me stress, change is not optional, it must take place, we can co-op-er-ate or we can resist, the choice is ours, but God will have his way, He leaves nothing unfinished. Here are words by Daniel Iverson , let them be a prayer for all of us today,[ Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me,break me melt me, mould me, fill me, Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

It may happen.[ Matthew 6 v 25-34 ]

It is so easy to be gripped with the thought , it may happen, I may loose my job, I may get cancer, and so on. The,/it may happen/, sydrome, can take over our mind paralysing us with fear, robbing us of peace, and sleep. Our Saviour warned us of the dangers of falling into this pattern of thought, in Matthew 6 v25-34. In these verses Jesus stresses that our heavenly Father provides for His creation, the birds are fed by Him, and He adds that His children our of more value than them. He then tells us what we should be focused on, /seeking the Kingdom of God above all else/, if we do that ,then God will give us all we need. Lastly, we are to concern ourselves with today, not tomorrow,the whole emphasis is on trusting and obeying, not to let ourselves be gripped with what may happen.[ Loving Heavenly Father we ask for the grace to live in the present, and not to be gripped with what may happen, we ask this in Jesus name Amen .]

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 ]