Be on time. [2 Corinthians 6 v2 ]

I heard a Lou Armstrong song, the last one he recorded, and the words that struck me were,/ we have all the time in the world/. The question is, have we?, when it comes to salvation we are exhorted to grasp the opportunity, to seek the Lord while He can be found to call on Him while He is near, [Isaiah 55v 6]. The old gospel hymn went ,/ be on time ....if in sin you longer wait ,you may find no open gate, and your cries be just to late ,be in time/. We all know what it is to arrive at the train station, only to find the train is gone, if one worked in Belfast shipyard years ago, they were very strict in relation to time keeping, if you arrived late you would be locked out, and you would loose a days pay. When we hear the gospel message, we are not meant to dilly dally along the way, we are meant to respond there and then, if we dont ,we are in danger of being locked out , and it wont be a days pay we will loose, it will be our soul. [ Dear God help us to see the importance of instant obedience in all things ,but especially in relation to the gospel, in Jesus name. Amen]

Anticipation[ Matthew 6 v25-34 ]

I wonder are you like me? in that you sometimes anticipate certain situations, I am sure many in Israel anticipated David being defeated by Goliath [1 Samuel17], and when Daniel was thrown into the den of lions, there were those who anticipated , he would be eaten up[Daniel 6]. Consider also the death of our Saviour, many ,even the disciples,thought that was the end, they anticipated the worse .The fact of the matter is, all these people were wrong, what they anticipated did not happen, why? , God, He had other plans, and what ever He plans and purposes will happen.Today whatever our situation and circumstances are ,let us not anticipate the worse, let us trust our God to overrule for our good as He has promised[ Romans 8v 28 ]. William Cowper wrote,/ Ye fear saints , fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread, are big with mercy , and shall break in blessings on your head/. [Dear God we commit all our circumstances , and situations into Your hands, help us to not anticipate the worse, but to simply trust in Your overruling providence, in Jesus name. Amen]

Why did I worry?

All went well on my travels , I did not have to use my sat-nav , it happened just as I had requested,it was a travel free journey. After all I had prayed, and God answers prayer,this is what we are supposed to do about those things that give us concerns,pray and trust even though we may still be anxious, and God will answer. Philippians 4v6-7, tells us ,/Do not be anxious about anything, instead , pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience Gods peace, which exceeds anything you can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus/. So why not do this right now,and begin to practice it continually, till it becomes second nature to us, dont let our anxieties drive us from God let them drive us to Him.[ Father we acknowledge that we are weak, often fearful and anxious about different things, so today we bring all our anxieties to You, right now, and trust in Your loving care , a care that will always do whats best for us, in Jesus name .Amen ]

He Knows [ Psalm 23 ]

I will be preaching in a friends church this weekend, it will mean a three hour journey to get there, I am looking forward to it, but, there is that but again, I do get fearful about travelling, of finding my way there. I should not, after all ,in all my travels God has been faithful and guided me ,I have always managed to get to my destination. It was Joyce Meyer who encourages us to, do it afraid,in other words let faith be the the deciding factor, not fear. God is well aware of our fears, that is why we have so many ,fear nots in the Bible.let me encourage you if you are afraid today, to fear not,grab hold of a promise from Gods word , and let faith arise,and do it afraid.Let me leave you with one of my favourite promises from Isaiah 41 v10,/ Fear thou not , for I am with thee,be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee,yea I will help thee,yea I will uphold thee, with the right hand of my righteousness/.[ Dear God and Father you know how often we are fearful, help us to trust You , and not be afraid, whatever we are facing today ,in Jesus name. Amen ] [As I will be away tomorrow I will not be blogging]

Weakness in prayer. [Romans 8v26-30 ]

In Romans 8 which is one of my favourite chapters in the Bible in v26, we read,/And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we dont know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us,/this is such an interesting verse, it speaks of our weakness, a weakness that effects our prayer life, we dont know what to pray for in given situations. Lets face it ,this is often our experience, we dont know what to pray for the best, as to our future, as to certain circumstances. [ cp Philippians 1v20-23] Today let us acknowledge our weakness to God,and leave the choice to Him,and take comfort in the fact that the Holy Spirit is making intercession on our behalf ,in a perfect way , in keeping with the will of God.[ Dear God in our great weakness we come to You, have mercy upon us,life is full of many things that drive us to You, things we do not understand, and are at a loss to know whats best, we offer all these things up to You through the Divine Spirit,and simply say Thy will be done, in Jesus name . Amen ]

There is victory in Jesus. [ Philippians 3 v 4-20]

The weather is changing,the leaves are changing their colour, and so we move into a new season,in Ecclesiastes 3v1 ,/ for everything there is a season/.There is this an inevitability in this, we cant change the seasons,someone I know mentioned how the cloudy days affect him, we can let so much affect us,we can be ruled by the seasons, or we can be ruled by a faith that looks beyond the changeableness of life, a faith that enables us to rejoice in the Lord. a faith that knows great contentment. Is it possible? I believe it is possible, as the old hymn says there is victory in Jesus, victory over our moods,conditions, heartaches. Whatever season we may be in, let us remember that we have one who is with us,to comfort, to provide ,to overrule, to bless, His name is Jesus. [ Dear Lord , grant us the grace we need, to know victory over ,whatever the changes may be, that You may bring us into ,Amen ]

God is so patient [ Revelation 3 v20 ]

I am a reasonable patient person, but sometimes I get tired of waiting for certain things to change, and hear myself saying Ive had enough,I am fed up with the waiting game. In Matthew 23v 37 our Saviour speaks about Jerusalem, it was a lament,/O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets, and stones Gods messengers, How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath its wings, but you wouldnt let me/. Israels history is such a tortured history, it depicts a great lover, God, showering ,blessing upon blessing ,upon the one He loves ,Israel, only to experience time after time rejection,and unfaithfulness. We can broaden this out to include the world,[John 3v16], and we can narrow it down to ourselves as individuals, the Great lover God,seeks us whom He loves, and what patience He shows, as long as this world will last He will continue to exercise patience, because He loves us, and is not willing that we should not perish.[2 Peter3v9][ Dear God it amazes me how patient You are,help me to to be more like You, we ask this in the name of Jesus .Amen ]