Rejoice [Nehemiah 8 v10 ]

Sometimes it seems life is all gloom and doom, for some it appears that way, as we read the life of the apostle Paul , we see a man who suffered so much c.p 2 Corinthians 11 v21ff . Yet he was not a doom and gloom person, in his letter to the Philippians, which was written from a Roman prison, he is so positive and encouraging in what he writes. In chapter 3 v1 ,he writes,/What ever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord/,these are challenging words, is it possible to rejoice what ever is happening to us?, not in ourselves, it is a fruit of the Spirit Galations 5 v22. Today let us ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory, so that whatever happens to us today we may rejoice.[ Dear Lord fill us with Your Spirit so that whatever happens to us today we may rejoice in You. Amen]

He understands. [ Hebrews 4 v14-16 ]

Sometimes I am tempted to sin, [lets remember it is not a sin to be tempted] but then I think of the consequences if I yielded to that temptation, the consequences , to my family, friends, neighbours, myself, and the consequences with my relationship with my Lord. It is easy to sin, to taste that forbidden fruit, to be carried away with the emotion, and to justify what we do, on the grounds that we are hard done by.We will all be tempted in one way or another, make no mistake about that, until the day we die, so take care today, let us be on our gaurd. There is a gospel song which I like, it goes,/ Sometimes I feel discouraged , and feel my works in vain , Im tempted ,oh to murmur, to grumble ,and complain , but then I think of Jesus and what He,s done for me , then I cry to the rock of ages , hide thou me.[ Dear Lord we come to You in all our need,we thank You that You understand about temptation, for You were tempted, so today help us not to yield to temptation. Amen ]

Freedom [Mark 5 v 1-20]

The wonderful message is that Christ died to set us free, before we come to Christ we slaves to sin,in Isaiah 61v1, we read how our Saviour has come to set the captives free. In John 8 v34, our Saviour declared,/ everyone who sins is a slave to sin/, not all prisoners are behind bars,sin has affected all of us, we dont have to look very much into our hearts to realize that we are bound ,in some way. We try to deny the truth of our bondage in many ways, by judging others, by rationalizing that what we do is acceptable, everyone is doing it, or by thinking, it is just the way I am, or by escaping into atheism. The Bible states that our sins will find us out[ Numbers 32v23], our sins will catch up with us, all will be revealed, if not in time ,in eternity. Today Christ offers freedom to all, if we but surrender to Him, acknowledge our need, and trust Him as our Saviour, we will then discover true freedom[John 8 v36]. [Dear God have mercy upon us, open our eyes and let us see ,help us acknowledge our bondage to sin, help us to trust in Your Son Jesus,for true freedom. Amen ] [ I will be on holiday for a week, I will return to my blog next Sunday]

Looking [2 Corinthians 4 v 16-18]

In 2 Corinthians 4 the apostle Paul stresses the importance of looking at life in a spiritual way, and not a natural way, it was Selwym Hughes who wrote,/The difference between natural thinking and spiritual thinking is the difference between heaven and earth/. The apostle Paul suffered many things, but he did not look at them in a natural way, he could see his sufferings as opportunities, to glorify God,[Acts16v25],an opportunity to prove the grace of God,[2 Corinthians 12 v7-10],his suffering caused him to think spiritually, and as he did, he came to the conclusion that his present troubles were small in the light of eternal glories[2 Corinthians 4 v17]. The challenge for all of us is to look at life in a spiritual way, if we dont we will become discouraged, if we do ,then as S Hughes wrote, the less perplexed we will be, so today think spiritual . [Dear God forgive us for looking at life in a natural way, help us look at things in a spiritual way, in Jesus name. Amen ]

Struggling [Psalm 20]

There are many things that are hard to cope with, the list is endless, sickness, death,loneliness,poverty,watching a love one suffer,injustice,the suicide of a friend or loved one,betrayal,rejection, failure,and so we could go on. Today we may be in the pit of despair,wishing that things could be different, not knowing how we are going to cope, mybe wanting to run away from everything. If you are a Christian, and yes ,Christians will experience all those things, I would encourage you, to be honest with God,tell Him how you feel, pour out your heart to Him, and simply ask Him to help you, there may appear to be only a silence, but God is listening, and will answer your prayer. Psalm 120v1 reads,/I took my troubles to the Lord, I cried out to Him, and He answered my prayer/, I would encourage you to read the Psalms,for in them You will recieve much encouragement.[Dear God there are times we are overcome by the things that come into our lives, there are times in which we are driven to despair, so today help us, in Jesus name. Amen ]

The end of the world. [ 2Thessalonians 1v7-12 ]

This is the 9/9/09, spooky is,nt it?not really,it is just another day,as is Friday the 13th, it seems that 9/9/09, will usser in the end of the world, so some people say.I thought about this, it is only 9/9/09 in this part of the world , but because of the time zone, it is either the, 8th or the 10th in other parts of the world, so mybe only half the world will end, it is all so stupid.Take the JWs their history is littered with failed dates, of when the world is going to end, as Jesus said to a religious group,/Your mistake is that you dont know the scriptures [Matthew 22v29]/. The world will come to an end, cp =2 Peter 3, but we dont know when, nor are we meant to know ,[ Acts 1v7], what is most important is to be ready.Being ready involves knowing Jesus as ones Saviour, and living a holy godly life, if we know Christ as our Saviour, then whatever the future holds for us, all will be well [Dear Lord Jesus help us not to be taken up with vain speculation as to when the world is going to end, help us all to realize that the most important thing is to know You as our Saviour. Amen]

Going through the motions [ Psalm 85v6]

I suppose we are all guilty of going through the motions, driving can be like that,and so many other things, and also our walk with God. A lady asked me why we did not pray the Lords prayer at our services, I suppose there is no real reason why we dont, mybe we will, like many things praying the Lords prayer can become a meaningless ritual, were we mouth the words, and dont think about the meaning, hymn singing is like this . Going through the motions can invade all our life relationships, with our wives, or husbands, and when this happens, relationships suffer, Let us think about our lives, about our relationships with those we love,and with our Lord, and ask ourselves are we just going through the motions. [Dear Lord we are creatures of habit, and we confess that often we just go through the motions, with the result that so much that we do has very little meaning; we ask that today You would breathe afresh into our lives, revive us, and awake us out of our meaningless. Amen ]