My shepherd [Psalm 23 ]

One of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Psalms , and one of my favourite Psalms is that old favourite Psalm 23. I have read it many times , and preached on it often. The whole bases of the Psalm is about relationship, David the author knows the Lord personally, he starts by saying the Lord is my shepherd. I often become concerned when people say, I am a , RC/ Cof E/ Baptist, and so on,because that often means very little, and avoids the fact that we need to know the Lord personally, and of course I mean the Lord Jesus. How do get to know the Lord personally?. Well it all starts when we see our need ,that we are lost,that we are sinners,and that we need Jesus to be our Saviour,having seen this we ask Him to save us, and when we do He becomes our Saviour, and then we can say with confidence, the Lord is my shepherd. [Dear Lord Jesus thank You that we can know You personally, when we know You as Saviour Amen ]

Dont anticipate [Ezra 8 v21-23 ]

I dont know if you are like me , you think about certain situations and you anticipate what may or may not happen, last week I was faced with a certain situation, and my mind ran amok.I must confess I imagined the worst, but it didnt happen, God had done His best to reassure me, but I still imagined the worst. Our Saviour very clearly taught , that we are not to live with worry,[Matthew 6 v34 ]but we do, what if I loose my job?, what if I become unwell?, what if?,our minds often are filled with, What if?. One of the things we must do is to train ourselves to not anticipate the worst, oh yes ,we will know difficulties, but we may not, but whatever we encounter the Lord is with us, to overrule and to undertake.Alfred Smith wrote the following,/ I do not know what lies ahead, the way I cannot see, yet,One stands near to be my guide, He,ll show the way to me. I know who holds the future, and He,ll guide me with His hand, with God things dont just happen, everything by Him is planned. So as I face tomorrow, with its problems large and small, I trust the God of miracles, give to Him my all./[Dear God forgive us for worrying,help us to be more childlike in our relationship with You, and have an attitude of simple trust, in Jesus name Amen ]

His way is best. [Psalm 18v30 av ]

Jesus said to Peter,/ You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from Gods.[Matthew 16 v23]/. Peter had challenged Jesus when He had told His disciples ,that He was going to suffer and die, and rise again, Peter thought this was wrong. Peter had a habit of thinking He knew best, knew better than Jesus, but he didnt, Jesus knew what was best, He always knows whats best, like Peter we may think we know best, but we dont. Like Peter our judgement is often clouded, we look on the immediate, but Jesus sees all things clearly, and sees the whole story, like He said to Peter, we see things from purely from a human point of view, not from Gods.On another occasion our Saviour said to Peter,/ you dont understand now what I am doing, but someday you will,[John 13 v7 ]/The Psalmist said,/ as for God His way is perfect [18 v30]/, from our point of view it may not appear that way , but it is, consider if Jesus had listened to Peter, and rejected the way of the cross, we would all still be lost, still in our sin, without God and without hope.[ Dear God we ask that You would help us to trust You in all things, to trully believe that Your way is best, in Jesus name Amen ]

Dont give up. [ Matthew 7v 7-8 ]

In Matthew 15v 21-28, we read of a woman, a non-Jew who had a daughter ,possessed by a demon, she believed that Jesus could meet the need. It is obvious that this woman was desperate, she does not recieve much encouragement from the disciples and even from Jesus. Many of us would have given up, and gone home, and would have thought , well we have just got to live with the situation,so much for Christianty, they are all hypocrites and as for that person Jesus, He didnt help. The thing is she didnt give up and go home, she believed with all her heart that Jesus could meet the need, nothing was going to put her of, and Jesus responded to her faith, and healed her daughter. Let me ask you, what is your need? salvation, that must always be first,healing , deliverance. provision, a way forward, are you going to be put of by Christians, or even it seems by a Jesus who appears to be ignoring your cry for help. Learn from this woman, her persistant faith paid of, she kept asking,seeking,knocking, and Jesus responded ,and answered her prayer.[Dear Lord Jesus we praise You that You can meet our needs, no matter how great they are, help us not to be put of, by others, or even when it seems You are ignoring our prayers. Amen ]

The sin virus [Romans 3 v23 ]

Unexpectantly my pc became unwell and I had to take it to a pc doctor, hopefully it has recovered, it had become infected with viruses.There are people out there who for whatever reason , take pleasure in destroying peoples web sites.Lets face it mankind,has likewise been infected, by a virus called sin, it manifests itself in many ways, in gross wrongs, in subtle ways, and will always be there.When my computor became infected , I was told by my system, in big words on my screen, so it is that the word of God clearly tells us, that we are sinners. The only cure for sin is the gospel, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, there is no other cure no other answer,ignor it , reject it and there will be a terrible price to pay.Take note of these very serious words in Romans 2 v5-6. /Because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when Gods righteous judgement will be revealed/.[ Dear God we thank You that there is a place of forgivness ,that there is one who died for sinners, even Jesus. Amen ]

Pray [ 1 Timothy 2 v1]

I was out yesterday about to go into work, and a person hailed me,he asked was I a priest, I said I wasnt, I wear a small cross around my neck. I could see that he had a serious drink problem , he was also walking with the aid of a walking frame. He said he had a drink problem , he was very religious, could not read or write,I spoke to him about the Saviour, and he asked me to pray for him, so out in the car park he bowed his head, I put my hand upon his head and prayed , a simple short prayer, he then went on his way. Today you and I will meet different people, we may not know what difficulties or problems they have, we may not be able to pray with them, but we can pray for them.[ Dear God help us to be a praying people,to pray for our neighbours, family ,friends,strangers, in Jesus name Amen ]

A promise [ Psalm 84 ]

A promise came to mind, from my favourite book the Psalms, here it is,/For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.[ Psalm 84v11] We note a number of things [1]What the Lord is to His children. [2] What the Lord will do. He is a sun, when we walk with God we will not be in the dark ,[cp John 8 v12]. He is a shield, He will protect us, [cp Psalm 121]. Next what He will do,if we walk uprightly, [remember walking uprightly, it is very important.],/ God will give unto us grace and glory, and no good thing will He withhold from us.[ Dear God we ask that You will keep us walking in the light, that You will protect us,and keep us from all that would do us harm,that You help us to watch our walk, and that You would bless us with all that we need, in Jesus name Amen ]