Feelings [ 2 Corinthians 4 v 7 - 18 ]

It would be nice to say that one always has nice feelings, but the fact of the matter is we dont, one day we may be up the next we may be down. There are different reasons why our feelings alter, circumstanses,tiredness, what I think is important in relation to our feelings , is that we dont let our feelings rule us, for if they do they can so easily ruin us. How is it possible for us to know victory over negative feelings? is it possible?, to some extent it is, we may not always succeed, but I believe there can be victory for us. The Psalmist in Psalm 42, and 43, feels depressed, /Why am I discouraged?Why is my heart so sad?, Now I am deeply discouraged/, this is how he feels, what can he do?,well he does two things,[ 1] he hopes in God, [ 2 ]he praises God, this what we must do if we are going to know victory. [ Father we thank You that our relationship is not depending on our feelings, and we thank You that we can know victory over our feelings, through hope in You and praising You, help us to do this, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Its a wonderful world.[ Pslm 100 ]

Inspite of all the pollution in this world, caused by us, it still is a wonderful world,a world full of so much that blesses mankind.The world at creation must have been trully beautiful,no pollution, nothing that marred its beauty, everything would have lived in harmony,even the dinosaurs, the word of God tells us when God had finished creation , He saw that it was very good, [ Genesis 1 v31 ] Of course sin has come in and affected everything. People wonder why wrong things happen, and the answer is simple, sin, the whole point of calvary, is to deal with sin and its consequences, Gods priority is man, to redeem him, and eventually recreate this world,so that once again all will be harmonious. In the meanwhile we can still appreciate even this fallen world, and rejoice in our Creators handwork. [ Dear God thank you for our world and all its beauty,all its abundance , in Jesus name we praise You Amen ]

Bring it to Him.[ Ephesians 2 ]

That old hymn came to mind this morning, / What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privllege to carry everything to God in prayer/.There was a time when we had no one to turn to, when we were without God and without hope, not now, we are His children. God is our loving Heavenly Father, He loves us so much,desires that we come to Him at all times, to avail ourselves of this wonderful privllege . So today, whatever we have to face, whatever we have to do ,whatever problems come our way, be they big or small, bring it to Him, let us carry everything to God in prayer, and trust Him to undertake. [Father in Heaven we thank You that You have made us Your children, help us to realize more and more what this means, and help us to face this day with confidence, in the knowledge , that You are with us, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

The poor. [ 2 Corinthians 8 v 9 ]

I heard a man saying, the poor give more than the rich, it appears a strange thing to say, in 2 Corinthians 8 v2, we read of those who were very poor,who overflowed in rich generosity. If we were trusted with riches how generous would we be?and if God trusted us with little how generous would we be,I believe being rich brings its challenges as does being poor . Most of us would not consider ourselves rich , but whatever our state the challenge is to be generous,to help others. We live in a world of needy people,material poverty is just one type of poverty, do you know you can be rich and still poor, and you can be poor and rich, the Bible speaks of those who are poor and are rich in faith [James 2 v 5 ]. In Mark 13 v41-44, we read of a poor widow who give her all and was commended for it by our Saviour, my study Bible says this, / Here Jesus was admiring generous and sacrificial giving. As believers, we should consider increasing our giving- whether of money, time,or talents- to a point beyond conveinience or calculation/. [Father we thank You for loving generosity to us, materially and spiritually, help us to be generous, we ask this in Jesus name .Amen ]

I am sorry. [ Matthew 5 v 23-24 ]

Sometimes the hardest word to say is, sorry,why I wonder is this? could it be pride, there is a certain amount of humbling of oneself in this, also if we say we are sorry the person we are apologiesing to may not accept it.It was John Wayne in one of his movies who said,dont apologies it is a sign of weakness,but in fact it is I believe the very opposite ,it is a sign of strength. True humility is a precious quality ,which we are called to show in our lives, James reminds us in his letter that ,/ God opposes the proud but favours the humble [4 v 6 ]. Sometimes it is easier to say sorry to God than to people, because He will accept our sorry, if we are sincere, but people are different,they may not accept our sorry ,no matter how sincere we are, even though this is true, I believe God will be pleased when we say sorry, and in the end this is what is most important. [ Father in heaven grant us the grace to be humble enough to say sorry to those we have hurt or wronged, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen ]

Simply trusting. [Matthew 6 v25-34 ]

I was sitting at my desk at work yesterday, and I was thinking about a problem,related to work, so I offered up a prayer about it,as soon as I had prayed the answer came.I am becoming more conscious of God looking after me, the words ,dont worry,come into my head more and more.I am not saying I have conquered the worry thing completly, but hopefully I am making progress, in trusting God.Is worry a sin? I am not sure, but one thing for sure, worry is something we all do. I am sure we dont need to be ruled by worry, the challenge is for us to believe what our Saviour tells us in Matthew 6 v 25 -34, there the emphasises is on trusting our heavenly Father to look after us. An old Gospel hymn goes, /Whenever I am tempted, Whenever clouds arise, When song gives place to sighing, When hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him, From care He sets me free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He cares for me/, let us all do that today. [ Loving Heavenly Father we ask for your forgivness for worrying, help us today to simply trust You in every situation, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

Turn our eyes upon Jesus. [ Psalm 121]

There was a childrens Chorus we used to sing it went like this,/ When the road is rough and steep, turn your eyes upon Jesus , He alone has power to keep ,turn your eyes upon Him /. Consider those simple words, what they mean for us today, we are under attack from the enemy of our souls, our fleshy nature is continually raising its head, and the world with all its false promises is beckoning us. What on earth can we do? well ,let us turn eyes upon Jesus, for He alone, let me stress this again, He alone has power to keep, all those things that we have to cope with, are to much for us , and that is why we must look to Jesus , every day, and every hour of every day. We all are dependent children, our strength, security, enabling ,rests totally on Jesus, not in ourselves, so today let us turn our eyes upon Jesus.[ Dear Lord Jesus we look to You today to help us in every situation, Amen ]