Rejection [ Hebrews 4 v14- 16 ]

Rejection is a painful experience, which some people never come to terms with,I remember a friend called Charlie,his mother had given him up for adoption, when he was a child. Charlie found it hard to accept, he tried to have a relationship with his mother when he grew up, but his mother did not want to know, I believe this contributed to his death. Our Saviour experenced rejection, we read that He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him, [John 1 v 10 ] when He preached at His home town they tried to kill Him, [Luke 4v24 ]. The human situation throws many things at us, rejection is one of them, what can we do? well we can come to Jesus, He understands, for He was rejected,simplytell Him how you feel and let Him bring healing into your life, He can, and He will. [ Dear Lord Jesus we bring the pain of rejection to You, we ask You, to bring healing into our lives, Amen ]

Messed up lives.[ Luke 8 v26- 39 ]

On the front page of a daily reading I read these words,/ Stories of lives changed for good, /as one reads the Bible, we read of lives being changed. In Luke 8, we read of a man whose life was messed up, he was controlled by demons, he lived in a place of death, a cemetery. There were attempts to control him, but to no avail, he was homeless, naked, and violent, his truly was a life messed up, he couldnt help himself, nor could anyone else help him, but then Jesus came. When Jesus comes into the life , He brings forgiveness and freedom. We read the result of Jesus coming into this mans life,/He was sitting at Jesus feet,fully clothed and perfectly sane/, We sometimes forget that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, those whose lives are messed up, those whose lives are being controlled and destroyed by sin and satan .[Father thank You for Jesus Your Son who has come to seek and to save those who are lost, we thank that no life is so messed up that He cannot save and set free, thank You , Amen ]

Power. [ Genesis 1 ]

When you think of power, what comes to mind ?, the power of the atom, the worlds strongest man, let us consider the Word of God [1 ] The power of the word of God is described as being a mighty hammer that smashes the rock in pieces ,[ Jeremiah 23 v29 ][2]. No power on earth can stop it being fulfilled, [ Isaiah 55v11 ],[3 ] it is a living word, that can cut through all our defences and pretences, exposing us for what we are [ Hebrews 4 v12 ]. When believed on it can revolutionize our lives,comfort us in our sorrows, guide us in our walk,strengthen us in our weakness,encourage us in our endeavours. [ Dear God we honour Your word, we thank You for it,help us to read it ,meditate on it , and most of all to obey it, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen ]

Questions [ Acts 16 v 30- 31 ]

I am old enough to remember a radio programme,called twenty questions, a paniel would try to find out a given secret subject in just twenty questions. The secret subject was either, animal , vegtable, or mineral, it was a very popular radio programme. Questions, I am sure there are questions on all our minds, some , unimportant,some important,and some very important, I wonder do you know the most important question in life?, well let me tell you, it was asked by a man who was suicidal, and it this, /What must I do to be saved? /. Have you ever asked that question?, and is there an answer ? , yes there is, and here it is, / Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, [ Acts 16v 30-31 ]/, its as simple as that, have you done this? [ Dear God thank You for showing us the answer to the most important question in life, how we can be saved, thank you that no one needs to be lost,thank You that by simply believing on Jesus Your son we can be saved, Amen ]

My most treasured possession. Matthew 10 v 37- 39 ]

There are a number of things that I value, my books, especially my commentaries, my car, my job, my music, especially Kate M, and my health, and so the list goes on. I also value relationships, friends, family, my dear wife, if you made a list what would at the top of it ?. It is in Matthew 13 v 45 - 46 ,we read of a man who discovered a pearl of great value, what did he do ?, he sold everything he owned, and bought it, he valued that pearl above everything else. That story reminds me of what is my most treasured possession, Jesus ,is he yours?, when our Saviour spoke to Peter in John 21, He asked Him a question, / do you love me more than these? /[ v 15], how would answer that question?, would you be able to say ,Lord I love You more than these,[ whatever the these is ]. [Dear Lord Jesus we praise You for your great love for each of us,a love that took You to Calvary, help us to treasure You most of all ,may You be our most treasued possession Amen .]

He remembers. [ Psalm 103 v 8-17 ]

In Psalm 136 v23, we read, /He remembered us in our weakness/, He remembered, but do we remember?.The most gifted person in Gods eyes is weak, they think they are strong,but they are not,the king of Babylon ,who ruled over , one of the greatest kingdoms ever, was weak, [Daniel 4 ]. David , Israels greatest king was weak ,[2 Samuel 11 ], and the great apostle Paul was weak,[ 2 Corinthians 12 ]. The fact of the matter is we are all weak, it does not take much to disturb us, todays heroes can be tomorrows villians, one minute we can be standing , the next minute we can be flat on our face,but listen we can be strong, let me repeat that, we can be strong. How can we be strong? by acknowledgeing to God our weakness, in fact we never can be saved until we confess our weakness, that we are sinners and we need Jesus to save us. Weakness is were the Christian life begins,and continues ,till we go to heaven. [ Almighty God we thank You that You remember that we are weak, we confess that so often we forget the truth that we are weak, so today we bow before You in all our weakness, clothe us in humility,and a reliance upon You, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen .]

A closet atheists [John 21 ]

I recently heard on the radio of a man who lost his faith, he had been a closet atheists for years, so eventually he declared his atheism. As a christian I feel sad when anyone looses their faith, but it happens, there are many reasons for this, we need to pray for them. Also we need to realize that we are all vulnerable, many things can cause doubt to come in, it is easy for any of us to become closet atheists. The thing that is most important to me is my relationship with my Saviour, I love Him, and He loves me, He is my dearest friend, He has been with me through so much, and he alone has brought meaning into my life, to loose faith, would be to loose Him, and that is unthinkable. [ Dear Saviour thank You for your friendship and love, thank You for being there for us in the hard times, and in the good times, thank you , we love You, Amen ]