He is still the same.[ Ephesians 3 v20 ]

How she praised God, so reads Luke 13 v13, a woman had suffered from being crippled for 18yrs, the Bible says it was caused by an evil spirit. Her illness caused her to be bent over,every day for this dear lady was a trial, there appeared no hope, she would just have to live with it, we have all heard that. Then Jesus came, and in a moment everything changed, He spoke to her, Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness. Then He touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, He is still in the buisness of healing , providing,guiding, and above all else, saving us from our sins. [ Dear Lord we look to You, have mercy upon us , and meet our needs Amen ]

Witnessing. [ Acts 1 v8 ]

I know God saves, not you not I, yet he uses us to witness, to tell, unfortunately this does not always happen, I shy away from speaking the truth to others,why?. There are different reasons , we dont want to be thought of as religious cranks, we dont feel like witnessing, we are naturally reserved. How shall they hear without a preacher,or how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?[Romans 10v14 ], that is the challenge you and I are faced with,to tell forth the gospel. We may see people saved, we may not , that need not concern us because salvation is of the Lord. [Ezekiel 2v5 ]. It is not that we are not concerned, of course we are, but Salvation is trully of the Lord, so we must leave results in His hands, the most important thing for us ,is that we be faithful. [ Dear God help us to be faithful in our witness for You, with our lives and our words, in Jesus name Amen ]

Overcoming worry.[ Philippians 4 v6-7 ]

I love that little epistle to the Philippians, it has so much to say to us, Paul the author is in prison, and so from his prison cell he writes to the church at Philippi. This church was especially dear to Paul , under his ministry this church had come into being,he loved them and they loved him, they showed their love by supporting him financially. Chapter four is very encouraging and instructive, v6-7,is a word we need to hear continually,it informs us how we can overcome worry./Dont worry 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 we can understand.His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus./ [Dear God we bring to You all the things that we are worrying about , take them from us ,and undertake, may we trully experience Your peace, in Jesus name Amen ]

Hardened hearts. [ Hebrews 4 v 7 ]

We have put some new plants in the garden, I mentioned this to a friend, he reminded me of the problem with slugs, those little creatures who eat our plants. He mentioned that they only will eat the young tender plants, once the plants become harder to chew on, they dont want them. Lets consider that aspect of things becoming hardened ,like the bit of concrete I put in, at first it is soft ,but today it is hard,when a thing becomes hard, it is difficult to penetrate.So it is with people and the Gospel, they can so easy become Gospel hardened, many people come to Jesus when they are young,when their hearts are not so hardened. The Bible exhorts us not to harden our hearts[Hebrews 3v8 ], I wonder have we hardened our hearts to Gods truth,to the Gospel,or as a Christian, we refuse, by our stubbornness to respond to what God is saying?. Only you can answer that question, if today you hear the voice of God ,harden not your heart,remember their are serious consequences ,when we harden our heart. [Soften my heart Lord, soften my heart,from all indifference set me apart, to feel your compassion, to weep with your tears, come soften my heart, O Lord soften my heart , Amen] [Words by Graham Kendrick]

A man after Gods heart. [ 1Samuel 16 v1 -13 ]

I always love reading 1 Samuel, it has so much in it, it is about the beginning of human kingship in Israel, this was a big disappointment to the prophet Samuel , and to God, for God was their king. Still God permitted it to go ahead,some of the kings, were good, some were bad, but none were perfect. David is seen as Israels greatest king, David had been a shepherd, of course that is were he recieved inspiration to write Psalm23.[ The Lord is my shepherd ]. When the prophet came to annoint a new king, David was overlooked by man, but not by God,Samuel the spiritual man, looked at the candidate for kingship,in a human way,outwardly, but was soon pulled up by God, he was told God looks on the heart,and so David was annointed ,a man after Gods own heart.[1 Samuel 13v14 ]. What does it mean to be man or woman after Gods heart?,it means having a heart for God,wanting what God wants, and running with it,and if we do ,who knows we may become another David. [ Dear God our hearts are cluttered with so much rubbish, today in thy great mercy, change us to be men and women who have hearts only for You, in Jesus name Amen ]

Eternal Glory [ Philippians 3 v12 - 14 ]

The words eternal glory come to mind,what does that mean to you? what does it mean to me?. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 v24-27 , writes of two types of glory, one is temporal, the other eternal. The question is what are we going for?the temporal is just that,nothing more ,when we die we leave it all behind. The eternal glory is not obvious at this time, because we see it by faith, it is looking beyond the silver and glitter of this life, of seeing the glories of this life as something that will fade away, and will count for nothing when we stand before God. We do not merit salvation but we are to make every effort in our pursuit of those eternal glories, to do less than this has its consequences.[ 1 Cor 9 v27 ] [ Dear God help us to not be blinded, to what really matters in life, help us to keep our vision on eternal values, in Jesus name Amen]

Time to start gardening.[ Psalm 90 v17 av ]

It is that time of the year when we start working in the garden, putting new plants in, weeding. Nice gardens dont just happen, it takes a bit of thought, a bit of expense, and a bit of effort, in other words if you want a nice garden , there is a cost. This is not unlike the Christian life, lf we want to be more like Jesus there is a cost, we need to root out the weeds, roots of bitterness ,that can mar our lives, get rid of the rubbish,that we have allowed to accumulate. The words of Psalm 139 v23-24 ,comes to mind,/Search me , O God, and know my heart,test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life./ As God answers this prayer, let us then start gardening. [ Dear God grant that these lives of ours may be objects of Christlike beauty in Jesus name Amen ]