Witnesses. [ Acts 1 v 1 - 8 ]

You will be my witnesses, are the words Jesus said His disciples, [ Acts 1v8 ] [and to us],with those words He also declared that they would be empowered , by the Holy Spirit, to enable them to carry out the task. Every day I pray that I may be a witness for Jesus, just recently I was told , that I was rude to someone, so I said to that person ,that I was sorry, in being rude I had forgotten that I was called to be a witness,in saying I was sorry, I was remembering. I prayed recently to be a witness to someone, and as I walked around I give money to three buskers, and money to a homeless person, that enabled him to get shelter for the night, was I a witness? I hope so, and yet I did not speak to them about Jesus, but mybe I showed them Jesus. [Dear Lord Jesus, help us to be Your witnesses today, by our attitude, words, and deeds, Amen ]

The Lord must hate us. [Deuteronomy 1v 19-36 ]

Israel were about to enter the promise land , but they refused to go in and conquer the land, why ?unbelief.[ Hebrews 3 v19 ] . Unbelief is very serious , God does not look kindly on unbelief, nor should we, unbelief give them a warped sense of reasoning, they believe God hated them and wanted to destroy them. The result of their unbelief was that generation were not allowed to enter the promised land, they missed out on the blessing. Unbelief is a barr to people going to heaven, and condemns them to a lost eternity, it is only by faith can we be saved, faith in Jesus, and in Him alone. If we are Christians we are called to live by faith, that means we face the difficulties, and challenges of life by faith, it is the way of blessing not as Israel thought a way of God wanting to destroy us.[Father in Heaven have mercy upon us, so often we think the worse as regards Your ways, and will for our lives, help us embrace by faith Your will, which is good and pleasing and perfect, in the name of Jesus we ask this Amen .] [ I will be away from home till tomorrow evening]

Redundant. [ Romans 8v 28 A V ]

I met a brother in the Lord yesterday, after many years in employment he was made redundant, my heart went out to him, for having spent a number of years being unemployed, I know how difficult it is to have no job. The fact of the matter is , being a Christian, does not mean you will not experience difficulties, be it sickness, persecution, and so the list goes on. God has not promised skies always blue, but He has promised to be with us, to support us, to strengthen us, and to cause everything to work together for our good [Romans 8 v28 A V ].Let us all spend a few moments in prayer today, for those who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. [ Father in Heaven have mercy on those today that are facing difficulties, especially Your dear children, may they know your peace, and be at peace, and may You bring them through to a better day, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

Wisdom. [James 3 v 13 - 18 ]

Most of us know about the qualities of love[ 1 Corinthians 13], but what about the qualities of wisdom ?, the wisdom the Bible speaks of is not just about making decisions, no it has certain qualities to it. The Message tells us,/ Real wisdom, Gods wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others, it is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold next, not two faced, [James 3 v 17 ]/ This is contrasted with the worlds wisdom, which can be hurtful and unkind, in the movie, /There shall be blood/, which I watched recently the main character , manifests a worldly wisdom, that destroys both others and himself ,unlike the wisdom from above, that will always be rooted in Gods love.[ Dear God and Father we worship You , and ask that You would fill us with that wisdom which comes from You, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen ]

Wisdom.[ 2 Kings 3 v 5 - 10 ]

One of the things we all need is wisdom, life is full of so many pit falls, we have all made discisions ,and acted in ways which at times have been hurtful to ourselves and to others.The Little Sparrow sung a song, with those famous lines, /no regrets/, I wish I could say that, but I cant, I do have regrets, I could have acted more wisely at times. It is to the book of James we turn, and we have these words,/ If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you.[1v 5 ]In Proverbs 3v6, we read,/ In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths/, so today before we make any decision, or open our mouths to speak,let us pray and ask God for wisdom.[ Our God and Father we thank You that You have promised to grant us the wisdom we need in life, if we but ask, so today we ask that You, in Your great mercy will grant us this wisdom, in Jesus name we pray this. Amen ]

Our gifting. [ Romans 12 v 3 - 8 ]

In Romans 12 we read that we all have a part to play in Christs church, that we are all gifted in some way, I like what the Message says,/Lets just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pride- fully comparing ourselves with each other, or try to be something we arent./. Be what God has made you, and do what God has equipped you to do, and be content in this, again I quote the Message,/If you preach, just preach Gods message, nothing else, if you help, dont take over, if you teach, stick to your teaching, if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you dont get bossy, if youre put in charge, dont manipulate, if you are called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond, if you work with the disadvantaged, dont let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face/. [ Dear Lord Jesus thank for those gifts that You have given us , help us to use them aright,help us to see what our gifts are, help us to be content with the gifts You have given us , Amen ]

The powers that be.[ Matthew 22 v15 - 22 ]

They are Gods servants, this is written about the powers that be ,or the governing authorities, [ Romans 13] as one considers this one may struggle,as we consider wicked goverments. If one believes that God is sovereign as I do ,then we have to believe that He in His wisdom has ordained the powers that be, even though they are wicked and oppressive. This is a complicated subject, all I can say is,God has not ordained them to be wicked or oppressive, that is their choice, and they will be held accountable.How should the Christian veiw his role in relation to the secular powers, well our Saviour said, / Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God/[Matthew 22v21 ]. As Christians we are meant to be law abiding, but no secular authority is to obeyed, when they go beyond their God given authority. Today let us pray for the many in this world who are being oppressed, by cruel and wicked authorities. [Dear God we pray for all those dear people who are living under oppession, have mercy upon them, especially your dear children, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]