Safe. [ Romans 8 v 31 - 39 ]

Sometimes a wave of uncertainty sweeps over one, can we make it to our ultimate destination?, Heaven, I am sure many people think this. I was thinking like this recently when a verse of scripture came into my mind , written by a man who was in prison, and facing death , this is what he wrote,/ I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day/[2 Timothy 1 v12 . a v ]. What had he committed ?, his soul, the soul descibes the most important part of our being, to loose that is to loose everything.Next, to whom did he commit his soul to?, to Christ, and because of this he had confidence that all would be well. Barnes in his commentray writes,/ If the soul is safe, why need we be disturbed by the loss of health, or property , or other temporal comforts?, these are secondary comforts/.[ Father we thank You for your saving and keeping power that is in your Son Jesus , and the tremendous assurance that in Him nothing is able to seperate us from Your love, Amen ]

Nahum [Genesis 18 v 25 ]

Who was Nahum? well he was a prophet , one called by God , he proclaimed Gods word , to whoever God told him to. Nahum spoke Gods word to the Assyrian empire, addressing his words to their capital, Nineveh, the same people Jonah had prophsied to, with success, but they had gone back to their old ways, of being cruel and oppressive. God had showed them mercy, but now the time for Him to act had come, He proclaims Himself to be their enemy, the Lord who is slow to get angry, was angry, judgement was going to fall. I read these words in my study Bible,/Those who do evil and oppress others will one day meet a bitter end/. God is merciful and loving , but when people or individuals oppress others, they better watch out, for God will judge. [Dear God we thank You that You are just, and are not pleased with those who oppress others, please help those who are living under oppression, we ask this in Jesus name , Amen ]

Surrender.[ Galations 5 v 16 - 26 ]

Yesterday we looked at what it means to become a Christian, the surrendering of the will, let us further consider what it means in the Christians life. When we become a Christian we bring many things with us, habits, attitudes ,that we need to change, we all have something that clings to us. It has been said that though God brought Israel out of Egypt, there was still much of Egypt in them, they continually lusted after the things of Egypt, and where so prone to idolatry. For us as Christians we still carry with us many things that continually , we return to,wrong sexual ideas, lying, unforgiving natures, the list is endless, we all know our particular demons, today God is calling us to surrender these things to Him, for many of us it is a daily surrendering. [Father in Heaven , you know how we struggle with so many things that potentially are so destructive,give us the grace we need to not surrender to them but to surrender them to You, we ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen]

Surrender. [ 1 Corinthians 1 v18- 29 ]

I was watching on the God channel , a Bill Gaither presentation , and was blessed as he and others sang many old hymns which I knew. One of the the hymns was ,I suurender all, and the first verse goes, /All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give, I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live/.I believe one of the important aspects of the Christian life, is that of surrendering to Jesus ,that in order to be saved we must surrender our will, to Him, and simply trust in the claims of His Gospel, we will never be saved until we do this, but once we do surrender,and submit ourselves to Him ,we are saved. I know church people who have never surrendered to Jesus, religious people can be the most resentful of the fact that a surrender to Jesus is what they need to do most of all, that they have to come to Him just as they are, and acknowledge their lostness, their spiritual poverty. [Dear Lord Jesus help us all to see the importance of surrendering to You , as our Saviour, Amen ]

What the Lord wants.[Micah 6 v6-8 ]

In the book of Micah [6v 6-8 ]the question is asked,what does the Lord want?, the Message puts it like this,/ Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would He be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?/. I wonder what we consider , the Lord wants from us?, faithful attendance of church,going to the prayer meeting, reading the Bible every day, praying everyday, witnessing, giving a tenth of our wages, etc.Now all these things are legitimate, as was what we have read in Micah, but as 1 Corinthian 13,, reminds us ,they count for nothing if love is missing. Micah 6v8[ The Message ] says, / what God is looking for in men and women. It is quite simple, do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And dont take yourself too seriously./ [Dear God we confess that we get it wrong so often as to what You want from us, help us to change, help us today to understand, that rules and regulations are not what it is about, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen ]

Confess and move on.[1 John 1 ]

Yesterday I felt pangs of guilt, I felt I should have acted different than I did, what could I do?, well I confessed it to God, as Joyce Meyer says it is hard, living with a guilty conscience. As long as we are in this body we will sin, we will not always act as we should, so what should we do? we confess ,and believe the promise of God, that He is faithful, and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all [note that word all] wickedness, [ 1 John 1v 9 ]. When we have confessed we must move on, and pray that we will act differently the next time we are tempted, believe the word of God, not our feelings, or satan, when God forgives He chooses not to remember, those sins we have confessed to Him. [Father thank You that through Your Son Jesus you trully forgive us, and continue to love us, we praise Your name for such amazing grace, mercy, and love, Amen ]

Is it a wonderful world?. [Revelation 21 v 1 - 5 ]

As I write this blog I have Elvis Presley singing that well known hymn ,/How great thou art/,one of the verses go like this,/ When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down from lofty mountian grander, and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze, Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art./. I was watching a TV program last night , showing an area of Portugal , with its wild life, and it was very lovely. I have personally saw the Swiss alps ,very beautiful, and I can think of many other places, it appears to be a wonderful world, God surely did create a wonderful world, yes He did, but, here is that but again, sin entered in , that which was perfect became flawed, and the crown of His creation, human kind, became a rebel,and nothing has been the same since, a dark shadow hangs over this world, sin. But it is the Christmas season which reminds us of a child , a very special child, that was born, and that child grew to manhood, and died on a cross,to change this world and its inhabithants, those who trust Him, and eventually in His time,He will make a new heaven and earth, and on that day it will trully be a wonderful world. [Father we thank You for the wonder of creation, but most of all we thank You for Jesus who will make all things new, Amen ]