Thorns [ Isaiah 53 ]

While on holiday on Ibiza I stayed on a farm, there was a lemon tree, so I thought I would pluck a lemon of it, it was then I discovered to my cost that lemon trees have thorns. I wonder why a lemon tree has thorns,and why do roses have thorns?, I may never know. The thorns reminded me that when He who is king of kings ,was on earth, He was crowned with a crown of thorns.We placed Him on a cross not a throne we heaped ridicule on Him not praise, we despised Him, we did not see any beauty in Him. The question is this,way did He allow this to happen?, for He was innocent, He never hurt anyone,why oh why did He suffer?. An old Gospel song asks the same question,/ Why did they hang on Calvarys tree, why tell me why was He there. Jesus the helper healer and friend. Why, tell me why was He there?/. It is in the book of Isaiah we are given the answer,/It was our weaknesses He carried. It was our sorrows , that weighed Him down....He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was whipped so we could be healed./[ Isaiah 53 v4-5] [ Dear Lord Jesus thank You for suffering for me , for dying on a cross in order that I may be saved. Amen ]

Jesus [2 Peter 3v 1-13 ]

Edward Caswell wrote,/Jesu ,the very thought of Thee, with sweetness fills the breast/,for the Christian ,Christ holds no terrors, for they have embraced Him as their Saviour. But there is coming a day when all the people who have ever lived will stand before Him, on that day many will experience the wrath of the Lamb [Revelation6 v16], the Lamb being Jesus. At that time there will be no more time to know Him as Saviour but only as judge,on that day there will only be regrets, on that day it will be to late , only Hell awaits. If you are not a Christian accept Christ the Lamb of God as your Saviour right now, before it is to late, remember He loves you so much that He went to Calvary,it is not Gods delight or desire that any should be lost[2Peter 3v9][ Dear God of love we thank You that You sent Jesus in order that we may be saved from Hell, You did this because You loved us so much. Amen ][ I am going on holiday today , I will retun to blog on Sunday ]

Keep right unto the end[ Philippians 3 v12-14]

There is an old song which goes ,/Keep right on to the end of the road/, it is easy to fall at the last hurdle, to trip up a short distance from the finish line, to give up when our goal is in sight. I follow a great football team,and one thing they are noted for, is not giving up, so often in the last moments of the game they have scored the winning goal,they dont give up. The book of Hebrews was written to people who where in danger of giving up, they were finding things hard, they had taken their eyes of Christ and glory.The writer challenges them, and warns them of the consequences of giving up, [chap2v1-3], and seeks to encourage them to hold on and to press on [chap 12].Today let us by Gods grace ,keep right on to the end,let us determine to press on regardless of pain, or loss,or whatever, to press on to the end of the race and recieve the heavenly prize for which God , through Christ Jesus is calling us.[ Philippians 3v14].[Dear Lord Jesus give us the grace to to press on to the end , help us not to give up. Amen ]

Remembering.[ Romans 5v6-10]

This is rememberance Sunday, a day in which we remember those who died in battle ,there will be many sad hearts today, as they remember their loved ones ,and friends, who died. We owe so much to those who give their lives in defence of our country, we can only imagine the awful fate that would have been, if Hitler had won the second world war. We remember also that God in His great mercy in His sovereign power caused the enemies defeat,and our deliverance, in Psalm 127v1, we read,/Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted, unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good/.Many today will only be remembering the fallen dead, and will have little or no thought for Gods mercy , we live in a world that so easily forgets, the mercies of God, so many have forgotten and forsaken God. God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.[ Dear God we thank You for those who died for freedom, comfort those who mourn, and help us to remember and to respond to Your great love to us in giving Jesus, in order that we may, know forgiveness, freedom and eternal life. Amen]

Mercy [ Ephesians 2 v1-10]

Mercy is the act of God ,peace is the resulting experience in the heart of man, so reads Vine in his expository dictionary. We can never deserve mercy, we can only recieve it out of need, no one deserves it, and if we dont recieve it, we are lost. If we are to have an experience with God it is totally on the bases of the mercy of God,that means we have to ask Him for mercy. The cross is where it all must begin.The death of Jesus tells us ,that we are sinners, that is why Jesus had to die,all mankind is lost , sinful, Gods answer, the death of His Son, as a sacrifice for sin. The mercy of God is granted to us when we acknowledge our sinfulness, ask forgiveness, ask Christ to save us, God then shows us mercy, forgives our sins, grants us eternal life.W. P.. Newell wrote, /Years I spent in vanity in pride.Caring not my Lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. By Gods Word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law Id spurned.Till my guilty soul, imploring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary.[ Dear God we thank You that You are a merciful God, we ask that you would grant us the mercy that we need right now, in Jesus name. Amen ]

Do it to the Glory of God.[John 17v4]

Life for most of us is unexciting ,I suppose that is why we read,go to the cinema,watch sport,and so on,that does not mean that life is not demanding.We read of a young man in Luke 15, a young man who wanted to break free from the ordinary, from the mundane,many people are like that young man,so they go into drugs, sex,crime,and find themselves in a lot of trouble. In the sixties so called free love came in, people felt they could throw of the restrain of former generation, but there was a price to pay, they experimented with drugs, and like that young man in Luke 15, they found as the Rolling Stones, sung, they couldnt get satisfaction. People seek for meaning in the meaningless,I remember a young man berating me, he had giving up living conventional life,he had thrown off the ordinary for what he felt was better. Recently a young girl spoke to me of her desire to serve the Lord, of just one suitcase,nothing else,she spoke of being liberated. For most of us we cant do that, we may be called to do that, but in reality most of us are called to serve in the ordinary, in the unexciting, to shoulder the responsibilities of working, doing the unexciting, I end by saying this, because life is unexciting, and ordinary, does not make it meaningless.[ Father help us to glorify You in that place You have placed us , and in that task that You have given us to do , in Jesus name Amen ]

Stop me. [Psalm 23 ]

I found myself praying ,stop me becoming anxious, about a certain think, it was said of the great Charles H Spurgeon that he became anxious as regards the traffic. Imagine that great preacher , who stood before thousands and preached the word of God, becoming anixous. Let us be honest with ourselves he was not so different to you and I ,anxiety can hit any of us.Whoever we are,we can become anxious about our family,our future ,our finance,our friends, the list can go on forever. There is a good thing about anxiety, it can cause us to seek the Lord, just like I did, and that can only be good. I remember many years ago as a young boy being frightened ,what did I do ?,I literally ran to my mum as fast as I could, today if we are anxious let us run as fast as we can to our loving Heavenly Father.An old chorus comes to mind,[ I hope I get the words right],/ All your anxieties, all your cares ,bring to the mercy seat , leave them there, never a worry, never a care, never a friend like Jesus/.[ Dear God and Father ,You know all about us, how easily we can become anxious, help us in our weakness, to cast all our cares upon You , in Jesus name. Amen]